Adaptive Camera Placement for Open Heritage Sites

Abstract

Open cultural places are precious places, and because of that they need to be controlled by cameras that cover every inch in their 3D space. There are many obstacles in camera coverage, walls and columns are part but not the only obstacles. In our paper, we analyzed the position of suggested cameras mounted on drones to cover the open areas during working hours. Our algorithm organizes the process to set the optimal location for each camera considering the visibility of each one and the change of the number and locations of other active cameras. The drone cameras take many photos with crossing areas, the photos are stitched together to construct an image for the full scene to be used for human tracking. Geographic Information System (GIS) 3D modeling was used to build the base height surface of the study area produced by LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveying measurements. 3D analysis was applied to decide the optimal adaptive position of the drone cameras, calculating and measuring the visibility of the 3D model of the heritage site using GIS as a SDSS (Spatial Decision Support System). Adaptive positioning is considered because no drone can fly for the complete time, drones land to get recharged. During that period, other drone cameras cover that area.