Virtual image generating apparatus, virtual image generating method, and recording medium storing virtual image generating program

An image generation system comprising:

• an imager that captures an image;
• a position detector that communicates with the imager and acquires photography position information corresponding to a photography position of the captured image;
• a direction detector that communicates with at least one of the imager and the position detector, detects a photography direction of the selected image from the photography position information, and acquires at least one surrounding map image viewable from the photography position when the captured image was captured;
• and
• a virtual image generation server that communicates with at least one of the imager, the position detector, and the direction detector to generate at least one virtual image of a scene viewable from the photography position when the captured image was captured based on the photography position information and the at least one surrounding map image.

An image generation system comprising:

• an image database comprising a captured image containing photography position information corresponding to a photography position;
• a map-image database that generates at least one map image corresponding to the photography position information of the captured image;
• a direction detector that detects a photography direction of the captured image from the photography position information and acquires at least one surrounding map image viewable from the photography position when the captured image was recorded;
• and
• a virtual image generation server that generates at least one virtual image in any direction viewable from the photography position when the captured image was recorded based on the photography position information and the at least one surrounding map image.

An image generation method comprising:

• capturing an image containing photography position information corresponding to a photography position where the captured image was captured;
• acquiring a map image corresponding to the photography position information contained in the captured image;
• detecting a photography direction of the selected image from the photography position information contained in the captured image;
• acquiring at least one surrounding scene viewable from the photography position when the captured image was captured;
• and
• generating at least one virtual image of the surrounding scene viewable from the photography position when the selected image was recorded based on the photography position information and the map image.