Kinect Field Mapping Trial

Just a quick demo of field mapping with a Microsoft Kinect. We set out to test the Kinect outdoors. Luckily, Scott Creek is under a wonderful canopy of Cascade forest, which was good for the Kinect's infrared depth sensor. Check out the video of collecting and processing the data in the field and below is an interactive 3D point cloud. We used Faro Scenect to collect and process the Kinect data. More to come on this later...

Kinect Software Links

Here is some of the software I've tried out for getting data out of a stock XBOX 360 Kinect. There is a ton of info out there on hacking the Kinect to do your bidding in terms of 3D scanning.
SCANECT
RGB Demo
SCENECT

All of these use the OpenNI drivers for the Kinect

Bonus...some academic lit. on using the connect as a sensor
by Ken Mankoff in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms

The Kinect: a low-cost, high-resolution, short-range 3D camera

- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.3332/abstract