Improvement of registration accuracy of a handheld augmented reality system for urban landscape simulation

his article as: Fukuda, T ulation. Frontiers of A Abstract The need for visual landscape assessment in large-scale projects for the evaluation of the effects of a particular project on the surrounding landscape has grown in recent years. Augmented reality (AR) has been considered for use as a landscape simulation system in which a landscape assessment object created by 3D models is included in the present surroundings. With the use of this system, the time and the cost needed to perform a 3DCG modeling of present surroundings, which is a major issue in virtual reality, are drastically reduced. This research presents the development of a 3D maporiented handheld AR system that achieves geometric consistency using a 3D map to obtain position data instead of GPS, which has low position information accuracy, particularly in urban areas. The new system also features a gyroscope sensor to obtain posture data and a video camera to capture live video of the present surroundings. All these components are mounted in a smartphone and can be used for urban landscape assessment. Registration accuracy is evaluated to simulate an urban landscape from a shortto a long-range scale. The latter involves a distance of approximately 2000 m. The developed AR system enables users to simulate a landscape from multiple and longdistance viewpoints simultaneously and to walk around the viewpoint fields using only a smartphone. This result is the tolerance level of landscape assessment. In conclusion, the proposed method is evaluated as feasible and effective. & 2014. Higher Education Press Limited Company. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.