You Can Explore a Panoramic View of Stonehenge in Real-Time Thanks to Raspberry Pi

Despite recent scientific revelations, Stonehenge remains shrouded in mystery that has naturally led to speculation, myth, and legend. Its construction has been attributed to everyone from extraterrestrial aliens to Merlin himself. Even among the skeptically-minded, Stonehenge’s true purpose and method of construction remains a matter of debate. There is, however, no debate about its historical and cultural significance. As such, thousands of people visit Stonehenge every year, and it needs to be protected. To provide a way for people to experience Stonehenge safely from afar, English Heritage turned to Raspberry Pi.

Eric Winbolt, Interim Head of Digital/Innovation at English Heritage, and his team developed a system that lets anyone in the world explore a near real-time panoramic view of Stonehenge at any time of the day or night. Stonehenge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and this online panoramic view gives everyone on Earth the opportunity to experience its wonder. But the system and the technology that was used to create that panoramic view are almost as interesting as Stonehenge itself.

Appropriately, the most important requirement for the system is that it cannot affect Stonehenge itself in any way. That prohibited the use of a simple permanent live camera placed in or near Stonehenge. Instead, they started by using a temporary camera setup to take high-quality 360 degree photos of Stonehenge at a time when the shadows and light were neutral. They then removed the sky from those photos digitally.

They then used a Raspberry Pi to add the sky back in real-time. Near Stonehenge—but still far away enough to avoid interfering with the site—they positioned a Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ with a 220 degree fisheye lens camera pointing at the sky. A Pimoroni Eviro pHAT sensor collects additional environmental data. The image from the camera is then used to digitally edit the sky back into the original Stonehenge panorama. The environmental data, including the lighting conditions in particular, are used to improve the final result. You can view the resulting panorama yourself online, and the finished panorama view speaks for itself.