# Large Scale SfM with the Distributed Camera Model

Source: [Large Scale SfM with the Distributed Camera Model](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa62fd1e209131ce9fc069>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-25T20:30:18.740Z

Authors: Chris Sweeney, Victor Fragoso, Tobias Hollerer, Matthew Turk

Published: 2016-07-13T22:39:11.000Z

## Abstract

We introduce the distributed camera model, a novel model for Structure-from-Motion (SfM). This model describes image observations in terms of light rays with ray origins and directions rather than pixels. As such, the proposed model is capable of describing a single camera or multiple cameras simultaneously as the collection of all light rays observed. We show how the distributed camera model is a generalization of the standard camera model and describe a general formulation and solution to the absolute camera pose problem that works for standard or distributed cameras. The proposed method computes a solution that is up to 8 times more efficient and robust to rotation singularities in comparison with gDLS. Finally, this method is used in an novel large-scale incremental SfM pipeline where distributed cameras are accurately and robustly merged together. This pipeline is a direct generalization of traditional incremental SfM; however, instead of incrementally adding one camera at a time to grow the reconstruction the reconstruction is grown by adding a distributed camera. Our pipeline produces highly accurate reconstructions efficiently by avoiding the need for many bundle adjustment iterations and is capable of computing a 3D model of Rome from over 15,000 images in just 22 minutes.

## Recorded benchmark results

A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage.

- [Meta-image transformation on WikiEarth](<https://www.sota2.com/research/sota/meta-image-transformation-on-wikiearth.md>): Meta-image transformation; WikiEarth; Delta R: 2.86.

- [Pose Estimation on DMAIS 1.0 (flight trial)](<https://www.sota2.com/research/sota/pose-estimation-on-dmais-1-0-flight-trial.md>): Pose Estimation; DMAIS 1.0 (flight trial); Positional Error (m): 0.062.

## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.03949>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/1607.03949.pdf>)