Virtual Environments for Surveillance Video Streams Analysis
"Integrating live and recorded video streams in a 3D world to improve situation awareness"
Researchers: Gerwin de Haan, Frits Post
- several BSc. and MSc. positions available
- Collaboration with industrial partners: TNO Science and Industry, V-Sense, Trinite (planned)
Current MSc. Student: Marnix Kraus
Former MSc. Students: Josef Scheuer, Huib Piguillet
News
Our article "Spatial Navigation for Context-Aware Video Surveillance" appeared in the September 2010 Special Issue on Multimedia Analytics of Computer Graphics and Applications (September 2010). As the editors introduce the article: "... details a technique for following events in surveillance videos. The current practice in monitoring surveillance videos involves passive viewing of an array of video displays, maps, and indirect controls. As the number of cameras increases, it’s necessary to improve context awareness because of information overload. Their “egocentric” technique provides this situational awareness. Live tracking of complex events along cameras requires rapid, accurate navigation decisions about which camera to follow. The authors’ egocentric technique overcomes this by letting viewers directly navigate in the visible video, using the mouse, and providing updated visual feedback on the available camera transitions. This lets the observer be part of the action while following it. This new technique eliminates the boredom and inattention inherent in current passive technologies and makes the monitor’s task much more efficient." |
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* Gerwin de Haan, Huib Piguillet, Frits Post, "Spatial Navigation for Context-Aware Video Surveillance", In: Computer Graphics and Applications, Special Issue on MultiMedia Analytics (September 2010). Entry on DOI on Computer.org, IEEE Explore, ACM Portal.
Description
Abstract of our latest publication : "Egocentric Navigation for Video Surveillance in 3D Virtual Environments":
Current surveillance systems can display many individual video streams within spatial context in a 2D map or 3D Virtual Environment (VE). The aim of this is to overcome some problems in traditional systems, e.g. to avoid intensive mental effort to maintain orientation and to ease tracking of motions between different screens. However, such integrated environments introduce new challenges in navigation and comprehensive viewing, caused by imperfect video alignment and complex 3D interaction.
In this paper, we propose a novel, first-person viewing and navigation interface for integrated surveillance monitoring in a VE. It is currently designed for egocentric tasks, such a tracking persons or vehicles along several cameras. For these tasks, it aims to minimize the operator's 3D navigation effort while maximizing coherence between video streams and spatial context. The user can easily navigate between adjacent camera views and is guided along 3D guidance paths. To achieve visual coherence, we use 'dynamic video embedding': according to the viewer's position, translucent 3D video canvases are smoothly transformed and blended in the simplified 3D environment. The animated first-person view provides fluent visual flow which facilitates easier maintenance of orientation and can aid in spatial awareness. We discuss design considerations, the implementation of our proposed interface in our prototype surveillance system and demonstrate its use and limitations in various surveillance environments.
Videos
Datasets
Here we will publish our models and datasets used for evaluation in the publications. Please contact Gerwin de Haan: <g.dehaan AT ewi.tudelft.nl> if you want them earlier than this page is updated
Publications
Gerwin de Haan, Huib Piguillet, Frits Post, "Spatial Navigation for Context-Aware Video Surveillance", In: Computer Graphics and Applications, Special Issue on MultiMedia Analytics (September 2010). Entry on DOI on Computer.org, IEEE Explore, ACM Portal.
Gerwin de Haan, Josef Scheuer, Raymond de Vries, Frits Post, "'''Egocentric Navigation for Video Surveillance in 3D Virtual Environments'''", In: Proceedings of IEEE workshop on 3D User Interfaces (March 2009)
The video, audio and slides of the talk itself can be found on the conference VTCG site.
Technical Report VIS2007-01: Supporting Surveillance through Arrangement of Video Streams in a 3D Environment
Contact us
If you want more info, have suggestions ideas etc., e-mail Gerwin de Haan: <g.dehaan AT ewi.tudelft.nl>