Computer Generated Panorama Maps
http://www.cs.utah.edu/vissim/papers/panoramicMaps

Simon Premoze
Computer Science Department
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
premoze@cs.utah.edu

Abstract

Panorama maps convey the viewer a real sense of the terrain as seen from a human perspective in addition to geographical information. Creation of panoramic maps has largely been in a domain of artists that painstakingly paint each individual map. Although it is impossible to achieve quality and precision of panorama maps created by masters like Heinrich Berann, we present tools and methods for interactive creation of panorama maps. We show an interactive editor for manipulation of digital elevation model that allows selective exaggeration, rotation and other transformations based on observations of true panorama map artists. We furthermore provide tools for coloring and painting augmented terrain skin. We describe several tools and techniques that allow computer generation of panorama maps.