INTERACTIVE IMAGE GEOLOCALIZATION IN AN IMMERSIVE WEB APPLICATION

Abstract. For a long time people have been interested in the past and history and how we can go back in time using a time machine. And while we cannot invent a time machine, at least not yet, we can create a virtual one. Our “virtual” time machine is an interactive web application that allows users to browse through and navigate within historical images (aerial/terrestrial photographs or postcards) that are projected on a 3D photogrammetric model (point cloud or 3D mesh), thus going back in time and interacting with historical 3D models and images. This was achieved by adopting a semiautomatic approach where the user identifies first 6 to 8 hints on the historical image and the photogrammetric model, then this information is used as an entry data to a photogrammetric software that computes the pose and orientation of the image. The purpose of this work, which is part of the ALEGORIA project, is to preserve cultural heritage, to give the users the opportunity to go back in time and study history of a place or simply discover how their hometown looked some years ago.