Site Reconstruction by Camera Matching
Site Reconstruction rebuilds a physical location in 3D from satellite imagery and the photos and video that show it. This course walks the full pipeline: anchor a georeferenced world from satellite imagery, solve the camera that took the source photo, model the site, and verify the model by photomatching. It is the step after the Foundation baseline, and it ends with a house you reconstruct yourself.
At a glance
Course Description
Rebuild a physical location in 3D from satellite imagery and OSINT imagery — photos and video. Anchor a georeferenced world, match the camera to the source photo by perspective solving, then model from the matched camera and verify the result by photomatching.
Prerequisites & Corequisites
Foundation: Blender for Visual Investigation — completed or equivalent: object mode, adding and moving objects, basic modifier stacks. No prior investigation experience is required. A working Blender 4.x with the fSpy importer and a satellite/GIS add-on (BlenderGIS or Blosm).
Measurable Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Explain the two anchors of site reconstruction and when the method applies; establish a 1:1 georeferenced baseline; solve a camera from one photo; model and verify by photomatching; document the reconstruction so it can be scrutinized.
Course Description
Full description
Site Reconstruction teaches you to rebuild a physical location in 3D from satellite imagery and OSINT imagery — photos and video. You start by anchoring a georeferenced world in Blender from satellite imagery, then match your camera to the source photos using vanishing-point perspective solving (the fSpy process), and finally model the site from the matched camera and verify the result by photomatching against the source frames.
The course concludes with the Module 04 walkthrough, where the whole pipeline runs end to end — baseline, camera match, model, photomatch — on one site. The scenario is deliberately generic, so the same pipeline translates to any case you work on.
The content is developed from a live 8-week curriculum (Oxford + Dutch Police pilot) and composes existing KB reference pages — camera matching, measurements, geometric reconstruction — into a single teaching progression.
Prerequisites
- Foundation: Blender for Visual Investigation — completed or equivalent
- Comfort navigating object mode, adding and moving objects, basic modifier stacks
- No prior investigation experience required
- A working install of Blender (4.x) with the fSpy importer and a satellite/GIS add-on (BlenderGIS or Blosm)
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- Explain the two anchors of site reconstruction — a georeferenced world and a matched camera — and when the technique is (and is not) appropriate
- Establish a 1:1 georeferenced baseline from satellite imagery in Blender
- Perform camera matching from a single photo using vanishing points / perspective solving (the fSpy process)
- Model a site from the matched camera and verify the model by photomatching source frames
- Choose the right satellite/GIS tool and matching tool for a given source set
- Document a reconstruction (scale hierarchy, distortion, methodology) so it can be scrutinized
- Apply the full pipeline end to end on a new site, without step-by-step guidance
How to Use This Course
- Work through the units in order. The course has three modules (02, 03, 04) and three single pages (01, 05, 06).
- A module opens on its own front door — the Module Syllabus — and then holds its pages: the walkthrough, the exercises, and the shared references it composes.
- A page is one page. Read it and move on. It has no Module Syllabus and no nested items.
- The modules compose shared reference pages — Measurements, Scale & Dimension; Scale Estimation & Source Reliability; Camera Matching — into their flow. Read them where they are introduced, and keep them open for reference.
- Modules 02–04 embed the corresponding video walkthrough from the BVI series. Watch the video, then read the module notes.
Module Map & Progress Flow
The six units in order. Three are modules — they open into their own pages. Three are single pages. Each unit below names its type, its time budget, and what you get out of it.
01 · What is Site Reconstruction?
Page · Foundations · 30 min
- What the technique is, why satellite imagery plus OSINT imagery is the foundation, and the two anchors the whole method rests on.
- Outcome: you can explain the two anchors, and say when site reconstruction is the right method.
02 · Imagery, Scale & Measurement
Module · Pipeline · 60 min
- Build the georeferenced 1:1 working environment from satellite imagery — the scale anchor for everything that follows.
- Concepts: Measurements, Scale & Dimension · Scale Estimation & Source Reliability
- Outcome: a measured site with a recorded scale hierarchy and its reliability tier.
03 · Camera Matching
Module · Pipeline · 60 min
- Solve the source photo's viewpoint with vanishing points (the fSpy process), and check the solve against the frame.
- Concepts: Perspective & Camera · Camera Matching Strategies
- Outcome: a Blender camera that reproduces the source photo's position, rotation, and focal length.
04 · Modeling from Matched Photos
Module · Pipeline · 60 min
- Model the site from the matched camera, then verify the model by photomatching the source frames.
- Concepts: The Camera Match · Modeling & Photomatching
- Outcome: evidence-grade geometry that lines up with the source photo, with the error stated.
05 · Tools & Add-ons
Page · Tools · 30 min
- The satellite and GIS tools, the matching tools, and the Blender add-ons this pipeline uses — and which one to pick.
- Outcome: a tool choice for a given source set, with the reason.
06 · Investigative Context
Page · Methodology · 30 min
- Scale, distortion, and documentation: how a model becomes something that can be scrutinized and defended.
- Outcome: a reconstruction that states its own limits — distortion, scale tiers, and method.
Total estimated time: ~4.5 hours
How it builds: Unit 01 names the two anchors and the method. Modules 02–04 build them in order — the world, then the camera, then the model. Unit 05 gives you the toolchain, and unit 06 the documentation that makes the result defensible. The Module 04 walkthrough puts all of it together on one site. Each module assumes the ones before it.
Fundamental Concepts Used
These are the concepts the course teaches you to apply, with the page that covers each one in depth.
| Concept | Where you use it |
|---|---|
| Camera Matching | 01, 03 |
| Measurements, Scale & Dimension | 02 |
| Camera and Perspective | 01, 03 |
| Analyzing Footage | 03 |
| Scale Estimation | 04, 06 |
| Geometric Reconstruction | 01, 04 (extension) |
| Scene Management | 04 |
| fSpy add-on / Perspective Plotter | 03, 05 |
| BlenderGIS / Blosm / QGIS / Google Earth Pro | 02, 05 |
Resources
- Foundation: Blender for Visual Investigation — the prerequisite baseline
- Courses Overview — how courses compose the reference library
Sources
- fSpy — the perspective-solving tool used for camera matching in Module 03
- Berkeley Protocol (UNODC) — international standards for digital open-source investigations, applied to documentation in Unit 06