Henry Wilkinson
New blog post! Using 3D scan data created with my phone as reference imagery for underground mapping of subway stations in #OpenStreetMap Check it out! wilkinson.graphics/blog/2025-10...

Mapping Underground Structures...
Mapping Underground Structures with 3D Scans

My recent dive into indoor mapping with OpenStreetMap using photogrammetric references.

Oct 26 at 1:03amWeb
Show threadTobiasOct 26
@wilkinson.graphics thanks for sharing. I wished someone would make this an easy workflow to create aerial-like imagery. More at https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/tordans/diary/401804 and https://jakecoppinger.com/2022/12/creating-aerial-imagery-with-a-bike-helmet-camera-and-opendronemap/ and https://jakecoppinger.com/2023/03/generating-aerial-imagery-with-your-iphones-lidar-sensor/ by @jakecoppinger
Scalable Aerial Imagery Generation from Phone Lidar and 360° Point Clouds

Image Source: Jake Coppinger

OpenStreetMap
Show threadHenry WilkinsonOct 26
@tordans @wilkinson.graphics Yeah! I've read that 2022 post by Jake, it's part of what inspired me to do this!
Show threadJake CoppingerOct 26

@hank @tordans @wilkinson.graphics That’s wonderful to hear, thanks!

Yes - I haven’t cracked into OpenDroneMap dev yet but I _think_ adding some tooling around https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/odm_orthophoto would be the go for automation.

GitHub - OpenDroneMap/odm_orthophoto: ODM Orthophoto Module - Rasterize Textured 3D Models to PNG

ODM Orthophoto Module - Rasterize Textured 3D Models to PNG - OpenDroneMap/odm_orthophoto

GitHub
Show threadJake CoppingerOct 26
@hank @tordans @wilkinson.graphics
A few more breadcrumbs - WebODM generates intermediate depthmap images. In theory, you could patch the code so that you supply bitmap depthmaps from the iPhone lidar sensor for <=5 metre depth captures - I haven't had a crack at that yet.
Show threadJake CoppingerOct 26

@hank @tordans @wilkinson.graphics

Another issue with phone photogrammetry is most apps only embed the GPS data. Ideally, you'd have the inferred GPS + IMU fused data - the LiDAR tracking apps certainly show this is possible.
This is exactly what PIX4Dcatch seems to do - does GPS + IMU sensor fusion, puts those calculated coordinates in, then sends that off to their proprietary photogrammetry. If you export the images before upload, you can input into WebODM - and get stunning results!

Show threadJake CoppingerOct 26

@hank @tordans @wilkinson.graphics

Problem is - you need a paid licence to capture and export images at USD$1590 per year after a trial!

I've been thinking perhaps by recording all the iPhone sensors using the SensorLog app while taking photos on a 5 second timer for example, and then doing some fancy sensor fusion maths on the SensorLog output - you could get super detailed coordinates into images for better WebODM stitching.

Anyway - keen to follow along!

Show threadTobiasOct 26
@jakecoppinger @hank @wilkinson.graphics did you see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N92rACDMRak with https://store.kartaview.org/
They have ideal dataset if points and colors to this but (same as Mapillary) are focussed on the AI part of it and not the (craft) mapping.
Beyond Street Imagery: Crowdsourcing LiDAR ~ Alex Ilisei & Philipp Kandal

YouTube
Show threadHenry WilkinsonOct 26
@tordans @jakecoppinger @wilkinson.graphics Woah! This I hadn't seen. Making your own hardware for this is really impressive.
Show threadInsertUserOct 26

@jakecoppinger In my experience ODM (or at least WebODM) really doesn't like ground level imagery.

I nearly always wish it had a Hugin-like interface to manually assign some matching points for an initial alignment before letting it try fill in the gaps and refine.

@hank @tordans @wilkinson.graphics

Show threadRui MalheiroOct 26

@wilkinson.graphics good thing I don't have access to a device with LiDAR. That would be just one more source of data I don't have time to pour into my #OpenStreetMap addiction. 😉

Thanks for sharing.

Show threadhfsOct 26
@wilkinson.graphics great post! You could try https://osminedit.pavie.info/, which helps with indoor tagging.
OsmInEdit

Simple indoor editor for OpenStreetMap. Let's map inside buildings, the easy way !

Show threadHenry WilkinsonOct 26
@h______ Should have included this in a footnote, but I’ve used this one before. It’s pretty good, but it enforces strict rules about your indoor structures being within the footprint of the building you want to edit, and I didn’t want to figure out what that was exactly as part of this scope of work. I also didn’t want to figure out if that is well supported for underground structures like this one that extend far beyond the building you see above ground.
Show threadGarrett SpeedOct 26
@wilkinson.graphics this is something I've been wanting to do for a long time but the paranoia built into me as an American has me thinking I'd be put on a list for scanning infrastructure
Show threadn1k0Oct 26
@wilkinson.graphics @Peperlito all I see is a dog chasing a turtle