You need an App for that

It should come as no surprise to find we like efficiency. Anything that makes life easier will always be welcomed with open arms and the UWIS navigation system does just that.

Maintaining efficiency carries on above the waves. Every single image is traceable back to the project or subject and retrieval takes seconds. Its part of the workflow that ends in a scaled and accurate model or ortho photo.

New Method More Data

UWIS now delivers a log file tracking where the dive unit was as we swim around. This information is valuable and we use this info to reconstruct 3D models and geo locate at the same time. The current process to extract the useful information involved copy/paste and manual manipulation of the rows of latitude, longitude and depth to merge with the image files.

The result was never just a few clicks away and human interaction always adds the opportunity for introducing errors. This part of the process was crying out for improvement.

A quick specification for a little App was drawn up and some test data handed over to software and GPS guru Jesus Alvarez of 29QBits.com (domain coming – contact details are  jalvarez (at) 29qbits (dot) com). In a few days version 1.0 of the App arrived for testing.

Got an App for That

The CamPositioner app works by syncing log time with camera time. The clever bit works out which camera is closest to a recorded location and then calculates the position of any image files that are not an exact match – which is most of them.

Once processed the app displays the results and we export a Metashape-ready CSV file of camera names and locations, plus a full record of the processing assumptions. It’s quick, slick and creates something ready to import and use.

Accuracy Maintained

The good news is accuracy of the 3D model is preserved. There is no variation in the physical measurements between the two methods and irrespective of using a spreadsheet or the app we get the same results. The app is faster and has less mantronic manipulation and thus less chance of errors. With no diving right now we only have limited test data from Vobster Quay to work with, but the results are encouraging enough for its use to be adopted for every project going forward.

Its so useful it seems a shame to keep it to ourselves. So anyone ordering a UWIS system for hire or purchase through Deep3D will get the little app bundled as part of deal. Finding solutions to issues is part of what we do and making the process as slick and accurate is possible is always the goal.

On that basis its unlikely this tool will be the last process improvement.

Finally, if you need bespoke software then I can really recommend Jesus Alvarez – it was a quick turnaround and the tool does exactly what we need it to.