A photo vector field model for mapping photographs, maps, and cyberspaces to each other

This paper proposes a new framework for mapping and retrieving photographs, maps and cyberspaces to each other. Our target photographs are enhanced with spatial metadata such as geographic coordinates where they were taken and directions where they focused on. We map each photograph to a vector from its viewpoint to its gazing point, and manage it as three-dimensional spatial data. A prototype system provides functions such as handling advanced spatial queries for retrieving photographs, visualizing spatial density of spatial photographs, and mapping Web sites on photographs as text annotations.