Dataset Description

A dataset containing videos of clouds and cloud shadows captured by stationary ground-based cameras.

Timelapse Clouds Dataset

A collection of time-lapse videos of clouds that we use to evaluate our methods for estimating depth from cloud shadows. The videos were collected from a variety of sources, see below for details.

Obtaining the Dataset

You can either follow the links below and retrieve the data from the original source, or contact Nathan Jacobs for post processed video frames.

Dataset Details

The dataset is composed of a collection of videos that were mostly downloaded from the Internet. Information about the individual sequences are shown below.

Name	Sample Image	Additional Information
apache1		Source: youtube
apache2		Source: youtube
apache3		Source: youtube
valley		Source: youtube
shadow_valley		Source: vimeo
field		Source: Getty - Energy Films Library
desert		Source: Getty - Richard Kooris
colorado		Source: youtube - skytimelapse
badland		Source: shutterstock - Tim Pleasant
arch		Videographer: Robert Pless
ceske-krumlov		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2009 Series
ceske1		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2009 Series
ceske2		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2009 Series
ceske3		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2009 Series
ceske4		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2009 Series
ceske5		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2009 Series
city_cathedral		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena
teide		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2008 Series
novomestska		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2008 Series
praha4		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2009 Series
praha		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena
oedenwinkelkees		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2011 Series
francesco		Source: unknown, if you know where it is from, please send me a link so I can give proper credit. What we know: The original file name is Francescobonomi-TimeLapseClouds593.mpg.
lovos		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena
libus_ir_vis		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2011 Series
libus_ir_ir		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2011 Series
libus		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena
hazmburk		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2008 Series
cumulus		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2010 USA series
cordoba		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2010 series
capitolBuilding		Source: unknown, if you know where it is from, please send us a link so I can give proper credit. What we know: It looks like Boise, Idaho.
mountain		Source: unknown, if you know where it is from, please send us a link so I can give proper credit.
texas		Source: Getty - Richard Kooris
grand_canyon		Source: videohive
london		Source: youtube
nyc		Source: Getty - Energy Films Library
praha		Videographer: Martin Setvak Collection: Timelapse photography of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena Source: 2008 Series

Dataset Citation

If you use the dataset, please cite the following publications:

1. Jacobs N, Abrams A, Pless R. 2013. Two Cloud-Based Cues for Estimating Scene Structure and Camera Calibration. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) 35:2526–2538. DOI: 10.1109/TPAMI.2013.55.
   bibtex | website | doi

   ×Close

   Bibtex Entry for "Two Cloud-Based Cues for Estimating Scene Structure and Camera Calibration"

   @article{jacobs13clouds,
     annotation = {dataset_tlc,webcam,clouds,timelapse,imagingwithnature,calibration,contextualeyes},
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and Abrams, Austin and Pless, Robert},
     doi = {10.1109/TPAMI.2013.55},
     issn = {0162-8828},
     journal = {IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI)},
     note = {Impact factor: 5.694},
     number = {10},
     pages = {2526--2538},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AtetDKvjt8K7RkKSCikwAY_RRI8Hqok5/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds/},
     title = {Two Cloud-Based Cues for Estimating Scene Structure and Camera Calibration},
     volume = {35},
     year = {2013},
     month = aug
   }
   

2. Jacobs N, Bies B, Pless R. 2010. Using Cloud Shadows to Infer Scene Structure and Camera Calibration. In: IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). 1102–1109. DOI: 10.1109/CVPR.2010.5540093.
   bibtex | website | doi

   ×Close

   Bibtex Entry for "Using Cloud Shadows to Infer Scene Structure and Camera Calibration"

   @inproceedings{jacobs10clouds,
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and Bies, Brian and Pless, Robert},
     booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)},
     title = {Using Cloud Shadows to Infer Scene Structure and Camera Calibration},
     year = {2010},
     month = jun,
     note = {Acceptance rate: 4.5\% (oral)},
     pages = {1102--1109},
     annotation = {dataset_tlc,spotlight,ugrad,webcam,clouds,timelapse,imagingwithnature,calibration,3d},
     bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPR.2010.5540093},
     doi = {10.1109/CVPR.2010.5540093},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eflM6RG6JAKW42ilT3xBApX8EzUFq74B/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds/},
     pubtype = {oral presentation},
     thumbnail = {/images/2013/11/thumb.gif}
   }
   

Related Publication(s)

1. Workman S, Souvenir R, Jacobs N. 2015. Scene Shape Estimation from Multiple Partly Cloudy Days. Computer Vision and Image Understanding (CVIU):116–129. DOI: 10.1016/j.cviu.2014.10.002.
   bibtex | website | doi

   ×Close

   Bibtex Entry for "Scene Shape Estimation from Multiple Partly Cloudy Days"

   @article{workman2015distributed,
     annotation = {tlc,spotlight,webcam,clouds,timelapse,imagingwithnature,calibration,journal,contextualeyes},
     author = {Workman, Scott and Souvenir, Richard and Jacobs, Nathan},
     doi = {10.1016/j.cviu.2014.10.002},
     journal = {Computer Vision and Image Understanding (CVIU)},
     month = apr,
     note = {Impact factor: 1.54},
     pages = {116--129},
     project = {/research/clouds/},
     thumbnail = {/thumbnails/multiday_clouds.jpg},
     title = {Scene Shape Estimation from Multiple Partly Cloudy Days},
     year = {2015},
     bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cviu.2014.10.002}
   }
   

2. Jacobs N, King J, Bowers D, Souvenir R. 2014. Estimating Cloud Maps from Outdoor Image Sequences. In: IEEE Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV). 961–968. DOI: 10.1109/WACV.2014.6836000.
   bibtex | website | doi

   ×Close

   Bibtex Entry for "Estimating Cloud Maps from Outdoor Image Sequences"

   @inproceedings{jacobs14cloudmap,
     annotation = {tlc,webcam,weather,clouds,contextualeyes,conference,ugrad,motion,imagingwithnature,timelapse},
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and King, Joshua and Bowers, Daniel and Souvenir, Richard},
     booktitle = {IEEE Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV)},
     doi = {10.1109/WACV.2014.6836000},
     note = {Acceptance rate: 40\%},
     pages = {961--968},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/15CYlZYdzxjx6j4dPabzixATuAwV-CsJm/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds/index.html},
     thumbnail = {/thumbnails/cloudmap_parse.jpg},
     title = {Estimating Cloud Maps from Outdoor Image Sequences},
     year = {2014},
     bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1109/WACV.2014.6836000}
   }
   

3. Jacobs N, Workman S, Souvenir R. 2013. Scene Geometry from Several Partly Cloudy Days. In: ACM/IEEE International Conference on Distributed Smart Cameras (ICDSC). 1–6. DOI: 10.1109/ICDSC.2013.6778227.
   bibtex | website | doi

   ×Close

   Bibtex Entry for "Scene Geometry from Several Partly Cloudy Days"

   @inproceedings{jacobs13multiday,
     annotation = {tlc,webcam,weather,clouds,conference,motion,contextualeyes,imagingwithnature,calibration,timelapse},
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and Workman, Scott and Souvenir, Richard},
     booktitle = {ACM/IEEE International Conference on Distributed Smart Cameras (ICDSC)},
     doi = {10.1109/ICDSC.2013.6778227},
     pages = {1--6},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ytXa8I-NtoPuKOFaBfgAeAxbFdwpBCOP/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds/index.html},
     thumbnail = {/thumbnails/multiday_clouds.jpg},
     title = {Scene Geometry from Several Partly Cloudy Days},
     year = {2013},
     bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDSC.2013.6778227}
   }
   

4. Jacobs N, Abrams A, Pless R. 2013. Two Cloud-Based Cues for Estimating Scene Structure and Camera Calibration. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) 35:2526–2538. DOI: 10.1109/TPAMI.2013.55.
   bibtex | website | doi

   ×Close

   Bibtex Entry for "Two Cloud-Based Cues for Estimating Scene Structure and Camera Calibration"

   @article{jacobs13clouds,
     annotation = {dataset_tlc,webcam,clouds,timelapse,imagingwithnature,calibration,contextualeyes},
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and Abrams, Austin and Pless, Robert},
     doi = {10.1109/TPAMI.2013.55},
     issn = {0162-8828},
     journal = {IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI)},
     note = {Impact factor: 5.694},
     number = {10},
     pages = {2526--2538},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AtetDKvjt8K7RkKSCikwAY_RRI8Hqok5/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds/},
     title = {Two Cloud-Based Cues for Estimating Scene Structure and Camera Calibration},
     volume = {35},
     year = {2013},
     month = aug
   }
   

5. Jacobs N, Bies B, Pless R. 2010. Using Cloud Shadows to Infer Scene Structure and Camera Calibration. In: IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). 1102–1109. DOI: 10.1109/CVPR.2010.5540093.
   bibtex | website | doi

   ×Close

   Bibtex Entry for "Using Cloud Shadows to Infer Scene Structure and Camera Calibration"

   @inproceedings{jacobs10clouds,
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and Bies, Brian and Pless, Robert},
     booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)},
     title = {Using Cloud Shadows to Infer Scene Structure and Camera Calibration},
     year = {2010},
     month = jun,
     note = {Acceptance rate: 4.5\% (oral)},
     pages = {1102--1109},
     annotation = {dataset_tlc,spotlight,ugrad,webcam,clouds,timelapse,imagingwithnature,calibration,3d},
     bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPR.2010.5540093},
     doi = {10.1109/CVPR.2010.5540093},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eflM6RG6JAKW42ilT3xBApX8EzUFq74B/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds/},
     pubtype = {oral presentation},
     thumbnail = {/images/2013/11/thumb.gif}
   }