Antarctic 360º Video, VR, Panoramas and Photogrammetry

With recent developments in 360º video and VR, it is now possible for me to revisit a variety of material I’ve accumulated over the last 20 years of Antarctic-related visualisation research: these range from work I have done with Frank Hurley’s stereoscopic glass plates (which I commenced in 1999 – last century!), through extensive stereoscopic video and stereoscopic 360º panoramic images I shot in Antarctica during 2005-6, 2007-8 and 2009-10 expeditions.

Even by todays standards much of the material is of very high resolution (eg. 10,000 x 20,000 pixel panoramas) or at least adequate for computer-based scene reconstruction and texturing for VR purposes. Naturally, I would very much like to return to Antarctica with new high-resolution gear and all the knowledge and techniques I have now developed – this would lead on to some extraordinary new work that I can see in my mind’s eye.

Here’s an excerpt of 360º video I shot inside Mawson’s Huts at Cape Denison in Summer 2007-8, using a Point Grey LadyBug 2 camera, generously loaned to me by Volker Kuchelmeister from NIEA, UNSW. I had previously used such a camera shooting some material with Paul Bourke, so was familiar with its operation and limitations – not the most stable system, especially considering I had to run it using a petrol generator, which kept melting its way through the ice and tilting over – so that the fuel cut off and the whole system would crash, losing all captured data. It was frustrating – but I captured enough for this small documentary about the Huts:

An earlier version is available on Facebook: 

This features a discussion I had with Anne McConnell (Archaeologist) and Michelle Berry (Materials Conservator) of the processes they undertook inside the Huts.