It’s been more than 400 years since English colonists started exploring the James River, but a new expedition will launch this summer with a distinctly 21st-century mission.
In late June, a ring of six digital cameras will be mounted atop a pole on a raft that will float the entire 340 miles of the James, capturing a panoramic image every 30 feet or so. The goal, according to project organizers, is to create a virtual map of the river that will top the Google Street View experience.
“This is a huge opportunity to showcase the James River,” said Robert Clarkson, program director for the James River Association, which is collaborating on the project with
the local company that runs the websites RichmondOutside.com and Terrain360.com.
The trip will start on the west side of the Blue Ridge near the town of Iron Gate, where the Cowpasture River joins the Jackson River to form the James. It will end at the Chesapeake Bay in Hampton Roads.
People are also reading…
The vessel doesn’t have a firm name. But in keeping with the spirit of the endeavor, the team is thinking of calling it the John Smith, after the Jamestown adventurer.
Along the way, the cameras will capture roughly 360,000 images. The stitched-together panoramas will each consist of 112 megapixels. In total, the team plans on amassing 3 to 4 terabytes of data.
The camera array will sit 10 feet above a pontoon raft, high enough to avoid capturing traces of the boat or the crew.
“We want this to be completely clean and perfect,” said Ryan Abrahamsen, a Web developer behind Richmond Outside and Terrain360, which offers panoramic virtual tours of Virginia trails, including Richmond’s James River Park System.
Abrahamsen and his partner, former Richmond Times-Dispatch outdoors columnist Andy Thompson, put the rig in the water Friday for the first time.
The raft drew stares from onlookers at the Deep Bottom Park boat landing in eastern Henrico County.
“That thing’s pretty cool,” Stephen Dehner said as he hopped off a fishing boat onto the dock.
The duration of the trip will depend on the river flow and other factors, but the team is planning at least two weeks for the upper James. The wide portions of the lower James will require two trips, one on each bank, to avoid ending up with a series of uninteresting shots that show only water.
The series of dams near Lynchburg will be a hurdle, as will the falls of the James in Richmond.
“In terms of navigating whitewater, it’ll be interesting,” Thompson said.
To make do, the team may have to get photos by standing on rocks in the Richmond rapids.
The James River Association will provide logistical support and assist with supplies, campsites, and portage points that will require taking the raft out of the water.
Once the panoramas are ready, which could happen by August, the organizers plan to add information on natural and historic points of interest to create an “augmented reality” map. The team hopes the final product will prove useful to river outfitters planning trips, educators, and anyone else with an interest in knowing more about the river and its landmarks.
“The goal is to make it available to as many people as possible,” said Justin Doyle, outreach coordinator for the James River Association. He added that organizers intend to share the virtual map with other websites by allowing its code to be embedded elsewhere.
The map will also make use of social media with a mobile app that allows rivergoers to post and see photos taken at various spots.
Google Street View, which offers street-level panoramas from cities around the world, was launched in 2007, but the technology giant made headlines this year by taking a camera-equipped raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
Google also offers an offroad-focused product called Trekker, but Abrahamsen and Thompson say Terrain360 offers higher-quality images.
The raft, which measures 8 by 16 feet, is wide enough to prevent any serious wobble that could disrupt the panoramas, organizers say.
“If the shutter speed’s high enough, it won’t be a problem at all,” Abrahamsen said.
Before the main trek, the team plans to do more testing, which may include a trial run on a shorter stretch of river.
“The technology’s proven. We know it works,” Abrahamsen said. “There’s just a lot of moving pieces with the boat involved.”
