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Photogrammetry (DSLR / Mirrorless)

Use this workflow when you capture still photos with a DSLR, mirrorless camera, or drone and want to convert them into a WebAR³ VPS map.

Capture Guidelines​

  • Aim for 70–80 % overlap between consecutive photos.
  • Shoot at multiple heights and include easily recognisable landmarks.
  • Keep exposure consistent; avoid motion blur.
  • Optional: place QR-sized ground control markers to validate scale.

Reconstruction​

  1. Import the photo set into Metashape, RealityCapture, Meshroom, or your preferred photogrammetry suite.
  2. Run alignment and dense reconstruction steps.
  3. Export the resulting point cloud as LAS/LAZ/PLY with colour attributes. Keep texture resolution manageable (≤8K).

Upload with the Python REST API​

The snippet below mirrors the flow from the space.web-ar.studio: request an upload slot, stream the LAS/PLY file, and finalise the map so that back-end processing starts.

# upload_photogrammetry.py
from pathlib import Path
import os
import requests

API_BASE = "https://was-vps.web-ar.xyz/vps/api/v3"
TOKEN = os.environ["WEBAR3_TOKEN"]  # create a personal token in space.web-ar.studio
DATA_PATH = Path("outputs/cathedral.las")

headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}"}

payload = {
    "name": "Old Town Square",
    "dataType": "point_cloud",
    "sourceFormat": "las",
    "coordinate": {"lat": 50.08746, "lon": 14.42125, "alt": 194.2}
}

init = requests.post(f"{API_BASE}/maps/import", json=payload, headers=headers)
init.raise_for_status()
info = init.json()
upload_url = info["uploadUrl"]
map_id = info["mapId"]

with DATA_PATH.open("rb") as src:
    put = requests.put(upload_url, data=src, headers={"Content-Type": "application/octet-stream"})
    put.raise_for_status()

finalize = requests.post(f"{API_BASE}/maps/{map_id}/finalize", json={"publish": False}, headers=headers)
finalize.raise_for_status()
print(f"Map {map_id} queued → status: {finalize.json()['status']}")
  • WEBAR3_TOKEN is a bearer token generated in Console → Settings → API tokens.
  • dataType / sourceFormat describe the payload so the back-end picks the correct pipeline.
  • Set publish to True if you wish to auto-publish once processing finishes; otherwise review the map in the Console first.

Monitor Processing​

import os
import requests

API_BASE = "https://was-vps.web-ar.xyz/vps/api/v3"
TOKEN = os.environ["WEBAR3_TOKEN"]
MAP_ID = "map_12345"

resp = requests.get(f"{API_BASE}/maps/{MAP_ID}", headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}"})
resp.raise_for_status()
print(resp.json()["status"])  # e.g. PROCESSING → READY → PUBLISHED

Once the status moves to READY, open space.web-ar.studio → Maps → Preview to inspect the geometry, heatmap, and anchors. Re-run the photogrammetry step if you notice gaps or mirrored geometry.