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A drone-captured image of the Brigham Young University campus.

Courtesy Julie Walker

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A drone-captured image of the Karl G. Maeser Building at Brigham Young University.

Courtesy Julie Walker

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Thanks to a 3D model created during the COVID-19 pandemic, anyone can now view the Brigham Young University campus in full detail, right from the comfort of their own home.

Bryce Berrett, a civil engineering graduate student at BYU, and his faculty mentors have virtually mapped every bit of the 560 acres of BYU campus by stitching together more than 80,000 drone-captured images.

According to Berrett, his research group had initially been considering other project ideas, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and classes at BYU went fully remote in 2020, they realized they had the opportunity to fully photograph the campus without students or faculty underfoot.

“We wanted to create a high-fidelity, accurate and also high-resolution model of Brigham Young University campus so that it could be used both for accuracy, possible future planning, measurements … or it could also represent a snapshot in time,” Berrett said, “to be able to remember how campus looked during the COVID pandemic in 2020.”

Berrett and his classmates, guided by Berrett’s mentor Kevin Franke, a civil engineering professor at BYU, captured over 120,000 images with drones and digital single-lens reflex cameras over the course of 29 days in the summer of 2020. The final 3D model uses GPS systems for accuracy and comprises 80,000 of those images, which were processed by a program called Structure From Motion computer vision.

“The result is a high-resolution virtual version of campus so detailed that when you zoom in, you get a photo-realistic image of campus features,” stated a press release distributed by BYU. “The immersive virtual campus view can give a prospective student — or a former student — an intimate view of what campus looks and feels like without being there, and it’s exponentially more detailed and accurate than the experience provided by satellite imagery or Google Street View.”

The 3D model has an average resolution of 0.7 centimeters per pixel, with spots like buildings and statues having increased resolution so that their finer details like inscriptions and plaques can be seen and read.

“We used photos and then GPS points, and that helped us to connect all of the pieces in a way that you can’t really tell when one of those model pieces kind of merges into the next as you see the whole model of campus,” Berrett said. “Since we used that GPS to kind of tie things down to reality, the model is accurate up to just a few centimeters in most places.”

Other projects have sprung off of the creation of the 3D model. David Wingate, a computer science professor at BYU, and student Vin Howe have created a virtual campus flyover where anyone can view the BYU campus from above on a large screen located in the Talmage Building.

A virtual campus scavenger hunt has also been created using the 3D model, where users are encouraged to find an “easter egg” on campus through clues placed on various BYU landmarks.

Berrett hopes that others will continue imaging the campus as it grows and changes in the future, as well as search for new ways to use the 3D model of campus.

“We feel like we’re just scratching the surface as far as what it can all be used for,” Berrett said. “I just hope it can be used for BYU for generations to come in whatever positive ways possible. And I also hope that future students, faculty or anybody else with an interest in this model or in BYU might also be able to find ways to keep it going.”

To view the 3D model, visit 3dbyu.byu.edu.

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