Immersive Media Company, today announced the availability of 360-degree, interactive, online video footage of the earthquake devastation in Haiti, free of charge to relief agencies. The interactive videos can be seen on the Immersive Media website, with an initial sampling of location sites in Port-au-Prince, and new videos being captured and made available on an ongoing basis in the weeks ahead.
Immersive Media cameras capture 100 million pixels at 30 frames per second. Due to the number of agencies expected to access video over low-speed connections, the video quality has been optimized for lower-bandwidth web viewing.
The video can be freely embedded into other websites and also be shared via Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
High-resolution, 360-degree video footage of the destruction in Haiti is also available upon request.
Each frame of the video is geo-coded, which will enable the planners and operations teams to pinpoint exact locations for relief, recovery and rebuilding operations. The video footage can be integrated with ESRI and other standard mapping applications.
Capturing and making the videos available has been a team effort, involving Immersive Media and IMTS, an Immersive Media Authorized Agent that specializes in working with military and special operations teams. The DRC Group and Integrated Electronic Technologies have been handling logistics, transportation, operations and government relations.
The 360-degree videos help operations teams identify risks and threats, monitor hostile environments from afar, and maximize the safety and understanding of their operations.
Portland Oregon, has become a center of surround photography.
The GigaPan robotic camera mount ($300-$500) makes it easy to capture incredibly detailed images and works seamlessly with the GigaPan Stitcher and GigaPan.org. GigaPan Stitcher Software is included with purchase.
- Immersive Media’s Dodeca 2360 camera looks like a small soccer ball, and captures high-resolution video from 11 cameras. It delivers 100 million pixels at 30 frames per second (2400×1200 pixels/frame) and supports a number of video formats. The Dodeca camera head is highly portable and by using available accessories it is easily attached to automobiles, helicopters, backpacks and rigging equipment for any filming requirement.
- iMove provides full 360×360 coverage using six cameras in a cube configuration, each providing 90 degrees field of view.
Google’s Street View uses a Tricyle to go places cars can’t. Google uses Iconix cameras and German SiCK LMS 200 laser scanners. To collect 3D information, Lidar is used (using low powered lasers to detect distance). Then photos can be mapped to a 3D model.
A white pole in the back holds an octagonal camera platform with eight cameras on the sides and one on top. Each minute, the cameras take bursts of high-definition photos to allow online users to get a virtual tour of the area through Street View. Google has released an experimental browser plugin that will make it possible to display rich 3D graphics in Web content.
Microsoft’s Bing Maps (Haiti) has a similar street view system using Photosynth.
Photosynth-enabled Streetside imagery is built on geometric models that are reconstructed underneath the imagery to provide a truly 3D experience that shows locations as they are in real life. The one “catch” is that you need to install Microsoft Silverlight to make it all work. But once installed the new Bing Maps beta site enables a wide range of experiences. m.bing.com works on mobile phones.
OpenStreetMap can produce a map more accurate than anything else on the market, reports the BBC. That’s because it’s created by people on the ground. For local ground truth, the SPOT Satellite Communicator, merges SPOT satellite messaging with DeLorme GPS mapping.
Laura Schultz and Deb Bryant are organizing Crisis Camp PDX this weekend. Other cities are organizing similar events at CrisisCommons.org. Here’s the project page for the RSS feed project and the Portland wiki.
My Crisis Camp PDX Flickr photos show activity at the January 23rd event in Portland while my PdxHaiti.Ning.com site was an initial effort at defining a volunteer effort. Dailywireless.org/haiti (link on the top of this page), has more on telecommunications in Haiti. Clay Johnson explains How to Manage Large Volunteer Hackathons.
