Research Overview

What can clouds tell us about the surrounding scene and the cameras taking the picture? That was the initial question that sparked my interest in clouds. Since then we have learned that clouds are a very interesting cue for understanding outdoor scene appearance.

Related Publications

1. Jacobs N, Workman S, Souvenir R. 2016. Cloudmaps from Static Ground-View Video. Image and Vision Computing (IVC) 52:154–166. DOI: 10.1016/j.imavis.2016.05.013.
   bibtex | paper | website | doi

   close  

   @article{jacobs2016cloudmap_journal,
     annotation = {webcam,weather,clouds,contextualeyes,motion,imagingwithnature,timelapse,remote_sensing},
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and Workman, Scott and Souvenir, Richard},
     doi = {10.1016/j.imavis.2016.05.013},
     journal = {Image and Vision Computing (IVC)},
     month = aug,
     note = {Impact factor: 1.766},
     pages = {154--166},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ohcqYqbvMBjQCTppIBD74ZYmszLVGmKh/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds/index.html},
     thumbnail = {/thumbnails/cloudmaps.jpg},
     title = {Cloudmaps from Static Ground-View Video},
     volume = {52},
     year = {2016}
   }
   

2. 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  

   @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}
   }
   

3. Murdock C, Jacobs N, Pless R. 2015. Building Dynamic Cloud Maps from the Ground Up. In: IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV). 1–9. DOI: 10.1109/ICCV.2015.85.
   bibtex | paper | doi

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   @inproceedings{murdock2015cloudmap,
     annotation = {clouds,spotlight,contextualeyes,webcam,timelapse,remote_sensing},
     doi = {10.1109/ICCV.2015.85},
     author = {Murdock, Calvin and Jacobs, Nathan and Pless, Robert},
     booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV)},
     pages = {1--9},
     pdf = {http://www.cv-foundation.org/openaccess/content_iccv_2015/papers/Murdock_Building_Dynamic_Cloud_ICCV_2015_paper.pdf},
     thumbnail = {/thumbnails/cloudmap.jpg},
     note = {Acceptance rate: 30.3\%},
     title = {Building Dynamic Cloud Maps from the Ground Up},
     year = {2015}
   }
   

4. 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 | paper | website | doi

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   @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}
   }
   

5. 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 | paper | website | doi

   close  

   @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
   }
   

6. 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 | paper | website | doi

   close  

   @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}
   }
   

7. Jacobs N, Islam MT, Workman S. 2013. Cloud Motion as a Calibration Cue. In: IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). 1344–1351. DOI: 10.1109/CVPR.2013.177.
   bibtex | paper | website | doi

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   @inproceedings{jacobs13cloudcalibration,
     annotation = {spotlight,motion,lost,conference,webcam,clouds,contextualeyes,timelapse,imagingwithnature,calibration},
     author = {Jacobs, Nathan and Islam, Mohammad T. and Workman, Scott},
     booktitle = {IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)},
     doi = {10.1109/CVPR.2013.177},
     note = {Acceptance rate: 26.2\%},
     pages = {1344--1351},
     pdf = {https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k_pq_NEy6dtnYosZcIICNiy6w48A5cjQ/view?usp=sharing},
     project = {/research/clouds2calibration/},
     thumbnail = {/research/clouds2calibration/streamlines.gif},
     title = {Cloud Motion as a Calibration Cue},
     year = {2013},
     bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPR.2013.177}
   }
   

8. Murdock C, Jacobs N, Pless R. 2013. Webcam2Satellite: Estimating Cloud Maps from Webcam Imagery. In: IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV). 214–221. DOI: 10.1109/WACV.2013.6475021.
   bibtex | paper | doi

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   @inproceedings{murdock13clouds,
     annotation = {workshop,amos,timelapse,clouds,webcams,ugrad,contextualeyes,remote_sensing},
     author = {Murdock, Calvin and Jacobs, Nathan and Pless, Robert},
     booktitle = {IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV)},
     doi = {10.1109/WACV.2013.6475021},
     note = {Acceptance rate: 40\%},
     pages = {214--221},
     pdf = {https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/%7epless/papers/wacv2013Clouds.pdf},
     title = {{Webcam2Satellite}: Estimating Cloud Maps from Webcam Imagery},
     year = {2013},
     bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1109/WACV.2013.6475021}
   }
   

9. 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 | paper | website | doi

   close  

   @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 Projects

• Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes: a massive dataset of webcam images
• Geolocating Static Cameras: algorithms for estimating the geographic location of outdoor cameras

Acknowledgments

• This project is supported under DARPA Grant: ContextualEyes: A Context-Aware Surveillance System. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DARPA.
• This project is supported under NSF IIS 0546383: CAREER: Passive Vision, What Can Be Learned by a Stationary Observer. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
• Many of the images used in this work were provided by Martin Setvak, we are very appreciative of this effort.