D3Mobile metrology world league: training secondary students on smartphone-based photogrammetry

Abstract

The advent of the smartphones brought with them higher processing capabilities and improved camera specifications which boosted the applications of mobile-based imagery in a range of domains. One of them is the 3-D reconstruction of objects by means of photogrammetry, which now enjoys great popularity. This fact brings potential opportunities to develop educational procedures in high schools using smartphone-based 3-D scanning techniques. On this basis, we designed a Project Based e-Learning (PBeL) initiative to introduce secondary students to the disciplines of photogrammetry through the use of their mobile phones in an attractive and challenging way for them. The paper describes the motivation behind the project "D3MOBILE Metrology World League", supported by ISPRS as part of the "Educational and Capacity Building Initiative 2020"programme. With this Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiative, we implement a methodology with the format of an international competition, that can be adapted to daily classwork at the high school level anywhere in the world. Therefore, the championship is essentially structured around a collection of well-thought-out e-learning materials (text guidelines, video tutorials, proposed exercises, etc.), providing a more flexible access to content and instruction at any time and from any place. The methodology allows students to gain spatial skills and to practice other transversal abilities, learn the basics of photogrammetric techniques and workflows, gain experience in the 3-D modelling of simple objects and practice a range of techniques related to the science of measurement