@DaleHarris3 - We've spent quite a bit of time building scalable Street View-style workflows using both professional systems (like the Mosaic 51) and more accessible gear like the Insta360 One X, One X2, and One RS 1-Inch. If you're looking to build your own Oriented Imagery Dataset using ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, here's a field-proven approach that might work well for you.
Camera Setup: Insta360 + Interval Mode
The Insta360 line of cameras are solid 360 cameras for this purpose. When collecting images:
- Use Interval mode to capture an image every few seconds.
- We typically start capture from the camera (not the app) to avoid connectivity issues.
- Note that images are saved in INSP format, so you'll need to use Insta360 Studio on a desktop to convert them to JPG.
Time-based intervals can be inconsistent
If you stop, slow down, or speed up during capture, you'll end up with too few (less likely) or too many images. You'll need to plan your capture speed and interval carefully. Still, some redundancy is inevitable.
We typically handle this by filtering or thinning the image set afterward, keeping only the most relevant images for the final dataset.
GPS Logging: Use a Dedicated Logger
We strongly recommend not relying on the Insta360 app or the Insta360 GPS Remote for GPS tagging/logging -- it only works if the app remains active, which is unreliable in real-world conditions.
Instead, use a dedicated GPS logger: We've had success with:
- Bad Elf Pro + and Bad Elf GNSS Surveyor (both discontinued)
- Bad Elf Flex / Flex Mini
- Emlid Reach RS3
(But any quality GPS logger that exports a GPX track should work.)
Once your GPS track is recorded:
- Use a tool like GPicSync (or a similar tool) to synchronize your track with image timestamps and write Latitude/Longitude/Elevation into the JPGs' EXIF/XMP metadata.
Oriented Imagery in ArcGIS Pro
After geotagging your images:
- Use ArcGIS Pro's Oriented Imagery tools to create an Oriented Imagery Dataset (OID) and load the images. This generates one point per image, with some of the necessary attributes.
- After the OID is created and loaded, you'll need to populate or adjust attributes as needed (either on a per image or dataset basis. Mostly importantly:
- Image Heading: This won't be included automatically.
- Use Python to calculate heading from each point to the next in sequence.
- Optionally: Use this step to filter redundant images by spatial interval. (This can be accomplished using Python as well.)
- Generate the OID Footprint
Hosting & Publishing
To publish your OID for use in ArcGIS Online or Enterprise Portal:
- Upload your final JPGs to a static cloud host (e.g., AWS S3 or any public-accessible file host).
- Update your OID paths to reflect the cloud-hosted image locations.
- Use the Oriented Imagery toolbox to publish the dataset.
- In ArcGIS Online, create a web map with the OID (points and footprint).
- Build a viewer using Experience Builder and the Jewelry Box template with the Oriented Imagery widget.
That is the basic workflow. It is a long, multi-step and multi-software process.
Automating the Workflow
We've recently developed a custom ArcGIS Python toolbox that automates much of this workflow. It's currently optimized for the Mosaic 51, but we're actively considering adding support for Insta360 as well -- especially since much of our earlier capture work was done with various Insta360 models.
Once we finish cleanup, we plan to release the toolbox on GitHub. It won't support Insta360 out of the gate, but I'll make sure to post here when it does.
If you are interested, I also just wrote an article on what we're doing with 360 imagery capture and Oriented Imagery:
From Capture to Corridor Intelligence: How RMI Valuation Is Unlocking New Value with 360° Imagery
Here I explore our progression from early 360 cameras to the Mosaic 51, the automated Python toolbox and what we use it for.
I'll check if I have Insta360 imagery and a GPX log that I can share -- if not, I'll try to capture some soon, and share here.
Always happy to share resources or answer any questions.
Best,
Cameron Rex
RMI Valuation, LLC
