Landmark configuration matcher
AssigneeApplied Research Associates, Inc.
InventorDirk B. Warnaar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and techniques for determining a list of geographic location candidates from an image of an environment are described. Open source data indicative of the earth's surface may be obtained and combined into grids to create region data to gain a representation of the earth's surface within each grid cell. An image of an environment may be obtained from an unknown camera. Image characteristics may be compared to the region data to determine error between the image characteristics and projections of the region data. A list of lowest error geographic location candidates may be determined and provided to the user.
Claims20
One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when processed by one or more processors, performs a method of determining a geographic location from a comparison of an image of an environment with data indicative of a region of the earth stored on a mobile device, comprising the steps of:
- obtaining the data indicative of the region of the earth,
- wherein the data indicative of the region of the earth comprises at least elevation data;
- storing the data indicative of the region of the earth on the mobile device;
- receiving the image of the environment at the geographic location by a camera;
- storing the image on the mobile device;
- analyzing the image to determine horizon data indicative of a horizon in the image;
- comparing the horizon data from the image with the data indicative of the region of the earth;
- determining at least one likely geographic location candidate that matches the environment in the image based on the comparison;
- and
- causing display of the at least one likely geographic location candidate.
A system for determining a geographic location from a comparison of an image of an environment with data indicative of a region of the earth stored on a mobile device, the system comprising:
- a camera for generating the image of the environment;
- a data store for storing the image and the data indicative of the region of the earth;
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when processed by the one or more processors, performs a method of determining the geographic location from the comparison of the image of the environment with the data indicative of the region of the earth stored on the data store of the mobile device, comprising the steps of:
- obtaining the data indicative of the region of the earth,
- wherein the data indicative of the region of the earth is a subset of global data,
- wherein the global data is indicative of a plurality of regions of the earth;
- wherein the data indicative of the region of the earth comprises at least elevation data;
- storing the data indicative of the region of the earth on the mobile device;
- receiving the image of the environment at the geographic location by the camera;
- storing the image at the data store on the mobile device;
- analyzing the image to determine horizon data indicative of a horizon in the image;
- comparing the horizon data from the image with the data indicative of the region of the earth;
- determining at least one likely geographic location candidate that matches the environment in the image based on the comparison;
- and
- causing display of the at least one likely geographic location candidate by the mobile device.
A method of determining a geographic location from a comparison of an image of an environment with data indicative of a region of the earth stored on a data store of a mobile device, comprising the steps of:
- obtaining the data indicative of the region of the earth,
- wherein the data indicative of the region of the earth comprises at least elevation data;
- storing the data indicative of the region of the earth on the mobile device;
- receiving the image of the environment at the geographic location by a camera;
- storing the image on the mobile device;
- analyzing the image to determine horizon data indicative of a horizon in the image;
- analyzing the image to determine data indicative of a ridgeline between the horizon and the camera;
- comparing the data indicative of the ridgeline with the data indicative of the region of the earth;
- comparing the horizon data from the image with the data indicative of the region of the earth;
- determining at least one likely geographic location candidate that matches the environment in the image based on the comparisons of the data indicative of the ridgeline and the horizon data with the data indicative of the region of the earth;
- and
- causing display of the at least one likely geographic location candidate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.