Immersive topographic environment using 360-degree photos

Resumen

Digital twins are virtual replicas or models of physical entities, processes, systems, or assets. These virtual representations enable monitoring, analysis, and manipulation without directly interacting with the physical object or system. Integrating 360-degree photos into digital twins can enhance their representation of physical spaces or objects. Digital twins, which traditionally rely on various data sources such as sensors, IoT devices, and computer-aided designs, can benefit significantly from the addition of immersive 360-degree imagery.In the work developed in this article, the data source is a 360-degree camera. The physical entity represented virtually is the field practices of the subject Topography, Cartography and Territorial Information Technologies of the Agricultural and Rural Engineering degree at the University of La Laguna.The immersive environment created with 360-degree photos provide a comprehensive view of the physical space, the field of practices in which students work with topographic instruments. By integrating these images into a digital twin, users can navigate and explore the virtual representation with more detailed visual context. This is particularly useful for remote inspections and planification of a topographic data acquisition of the terrain. In fields like architecture or engineering, integrating 360-degree photos allows for more accurate digital representations of spaces. This helps visualize and understand the environment in a more realistic manner. 360-degree photos offer an immersive experience. Users can virtually "walk through" environments or inspect objects from various angles, providing a richer understanding compared to traditional representations.At the University of La Laguna, a digital twin of the practice field has been created with 360 photos. 38 agricultural engineering students participate in a teaching activity in which they use the digital twin to locate and identify topographic bases of the terrain. These topographic bases will be used to plan the collection of field data in situ and help in the digital modeling of the terrain.This article describes the construction of this immersive 3D environment created with 360-degree photos, as well as the design of a teaching activity aimed at measuring the user experience in this virtual environment.