Panoramic Mapping with Information Technologies for Supporting Engineering Education: A Preliminary Exploration

Abstract

The present researchers took multistation-based panoramic images and imported the processed images into a virtual tour platform to create webpages and a virtual reality environment. The integrated multimedia platform aims to assist students in a surveying practice course. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the platform’s usefulness to students, and its design was modified according to respondents’ feedback. Panoramic photos were taken using a full-frame digital single-lens reflex camera with an ultra-wide-angle zoom lens mounted on a panoramic instrument. The camera took photos at various angles, generating a visual field with horizontal and vertical viewing angles close to 360°. Multiple overlapping images were stitched to form a complete panoramic image for each capturing station. Image stitching entails extracting feature points to verify the correspondence between the same feature point in different images (i.e., tie points). By calculating the root mean square error of a stitched image, we determined the stitching quality and modified the tie point location when necessary. The root mean square errors of nearly all panoramas were lower than 5 pixels, meeting the recommended stitching standard. Additionally, 92% of the respondents (n = 62) considered the platform helpful for their surveying practice course. We also discussed and provided suggestions for the improvement of panoramic image quality, camera parameter settings, and panoramic image processing.

Modern Cartographic Forms of Expression: The Renaissance of Multimedia Cartography

“…Some of these virtual images uses official data (e.g., topographic databases Halik [17]) and are used by leisure industries to attract tourists [18]. Lai et al [19] performed a research about processing panoramic images for a VR environment integrated in a multimedia platform. This study contributed especially to improving panoramic photography and image stitching quality, proposed a strategy for producing high quality panoramic images, combination of information technologies, and assessing teaching effectiveness through the multimedia platform.…”

ViCT—Virtual Campus Tour Environment with Spherical Panorama: A Preliminary Exploration

“…The name "panorama" was invented by the English painter Robert Barker in 1787 for his paintings shown on a circular surface. The term panorama is derived from the Greek words pan ('all') and horama ('view') [19]. M. Garrela of England, patented a camera that rotated around its own axis in 1857, and it accomplished the job.…”

“…Image stitching is performed on two images. To detect the stitching position, pattern matching calculates the offset amount between the reference image and the comparison image in each region for each of the two images [19]. The two images are then transformed into a spherical image format using the determined stitching position and the features of each optical lens system.…”

A Technical and Operational Perspective on Quality Analysis of Stitching Images with Multi-Row Panorama and Multimedia Sources for Visualizing the Tourism Site of Onshore Wind Farm

“…Michitaka [14] discussed how virtual panoramas could be used to increase public interest in exhibitions and theaters. Lai et al [15] employed VR and panoramic photography to establish a website for students to take a surveying practice course and reported that 92% of the study participants considered the website helpful to the course learning process. Studies on VR applications in engineering education, mechanical design, and physical education training [16][17][18] have verified the utility of VR in education.…”

“…In accordance with the approach proposed by [29], the 360° panoramas with a horizontal angle of 360° and a vertical angle of less than 180° were captured in this study. Panoramas are typically taken with one of two methods [15], namely by using a 360° spherical camera to directly produce panoramas or by placing one or more cameras on a platform to capture images and stitching the images together. Compared with the second strategy, the first is simpler and more convenient but usually has a lower resolution and limited capability of customized functionality.…”