We introduce an approach for synthesizing time-lapse videos of
popular landmarks from large community photo collections. The
approach is completely automated and leverages the vast quantity
of photos available online. First, we cluster 86 million photos into
landmarks and popular viewpoints. Then, we sort the photos by
date and warp each photo onto a common viewpoint. Finally, we
stabilize the appearance of the sequence to compensate for lighting
effects and minimize flicker. Our resulting time-lapses show diverse
changes in the world’s most popular sites, like glaciers shrinking,
skyscrapers being constructed, and waterfalls changing course.
Project website: http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/timelapse/
