Dr Ellen Robson, a research associate at the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University, conducted a field trip to Nepal in March 2023 to assess the stability of road cut slopes. She recorded a stretch of road using a 360° camera to upload to Google Maps Street View. This is hugely beneficial for research purposes and for the public to use to learn more about this region of Nepal.
Ellen’s account:
This work was conducted as part of a research project to assess the performance of road cut slope stabilisation measures along a road in the Dolakha District, Nepal. I worked with my project partner, Dr Bhim Kumar Dahal, an assistant professor at Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu, Nepal). We recorded a 360° video of a 55 km stretch of road between Charikhot and Jiri in the Dolakha District of Nepal. A 360-degree video is where all views in all directions are recorded at the same time.
We used the Ricoh Theta X 360° Camera recording at 8 K, 2 frames per second (fps) (recommended by Google). This camera can record at 8 K, 2 fps for a maximum length of 25 minutes. Using this setting, the camera cannot be used remotely using the phone application, only manually using the buttons on the device itself. Recording a 25-minute 2 fps video uses about 40% of the camera’s battery and occupies around 11.5 GB of space (we had a 256 GB SD card). We had one battery and two spares for this device. We recharged these batteries whilst they were not in use using a portable power bank.
The camera was attached to the roof bars of the vehicle using a claw grip and used cable ties to secure its position.
The videos were uploaded onto Street View Studio. Once uploaded, the videos were then processed by Google which took several days (I received a notification once complete). During processing, google automatically clips the video into the photos and will blur out any faces.
The Street View Studio provides details about the individual sections uploaded: when they were uploaded, how long the section of road is, and how many people have viewed them. The top-viewed section has 5,194 views 16 days after being uploaded.
Google Street View has 360° capabilities so the user can view a 360° image taken at a single point. The user can manually change the position of the focal point of the image by clicking up or down the road. Visit the uploaded Google Street View from the location of the image above here.
Required equipment:
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