Applications of digital image warping in surveillance and navigation

Abstract

Variable scale displays which combine a highly detailed representation of regions of interest with a less detailed representation of their context can be effective visualisation aids. This paper presents a concise review of the principles of conformal digital image warpings that can be used to construct variable scale displays like global fisheye views or multifocal image representations (a `looking glass' effect). It is argued that a backward warping transform is most suitable for this purpose. Pilot studies indicate that these variable scale displays may serve to optimize observer performance in surveillance and navigation tasks.