Toward Fully Automatic Geo-Location and Geo-Orientation of Static Outdoor Cameras

Automating tools for geo-locating and geo-orienting static cameras is a key step in creating a useful global imaging network from cameras attached to the Internet. We present algorithms for partial camera calibration that rely on access to accurately time-stamped images captured over time from cameras that do not move. To support these algorithms we also offer a method of camera viewpoint change detection, or "tamper detection", which determines if a camera has moved in the challenging case when images are only captured every half hour. These algorithms are tested on a subset of the AMOS (Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes) database, and we present preliminary results that highlight the promise of these approaches.