Application of Microsoft Photosynth Within Heritage
Author(s): Richard Stroud, Paul Bryan
Photosynth technology has the potential to enhance how heritage is both accessed and experienced, from both a public and specialist perspective. The 3-D environment allows the user to immerse in a subject without the need for specialist software or equipment, whether it’s a large site or the smallest artefact. Currently, the biggest advantage comes from being able to browse imagery at maximum resolution, both easily and quickly. The potential of creating a single synth out of antiquarian photos, scanned images and imagery from various cameras and timeframes, represents an exciting development. Destroyed buildings could be visually recreated within the application, or it could even be used to illustrate the deterioration / restoration of a structure over time. A potential for cataloguing items in storage facilities, books, exhibitions / displays and recording excavations also exists. However, the errors contained within the 3-D point cloud data, and the inability to measure, means the application cannot currently replace the significantly more accurate outcomes achieved by laser-scanning and Photogrammetry.
- Report Number:
- 28/2009
- Series:
- Research Department Reports
- Pages:
- 48
