Construction of Virtual Reality Space of the Tottori Sand Dunes using UAVs

Abstract

The Tottori Sand Dunes, located along Japan’s Sanin Coast, are a UNESCO Global Geopark and a popular tourist attraction with millions of annual visitors. However, the tourism opportunities offered by them are hampered by such problems as severe meteorological conditions and vast, undulating landscapes. Constructing a virtual reality (VR) space might be one solution to these problems. Recently, a technique that combined unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) and structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry has been attracting attention for generating 3D models. The main objective of this paper is to construct a VR space of the Tottori Sand Dunes using 3D models generated from UAVs. Another objective is to examine optimal photography conditions and model generation conditions to create beautiful but small 3D models for the construction of a VR space. Two types of UAVs were used to acquire the image data. Metashape (Agisoft) was used as the SfM software for data processing. A cross-platform game engine called Unity (Unity Software Inc.) was used to construct the VR spaces. VIVE Cosmos (HTC) was employed as a head-mounted display (HMD) with controllers for the VR system. As the results, the VR space was successfully constructed in Unity using a 3D model generated by a combination of UAV techniques and SfM photogrammetry. The optimal photography and model generation conditions were determined and used to generate beautiful 3D models for the construction of a VR space.