How Vantage works

Each pin marks where an artist or photographer stood. The shaded cone shows which way they looked and roughly how wide their picture spans.

1. Walk there. Open a pin, tap Walk there, or just follow the distance readout.
2. Ghost view. The camera opens with the picture floating over it. Turn until the guide says you're facing the view. Fade or swipe between then and now.
3. Photo match. Take a photo, then line the picture up on it. This works on any connection and lets you fine-tune slowly.
4. Save. The round button saves a then-and-now image.

How sure is each pin?

Documented: from a published viewpoint map or catalogue note, mostly the Cape Ann Museum's Fitz Henry Lane Online.
Inferred: worked out from the title and the lie of the land.
General: the right area, but the exact spot is unknown.

Field calibration

When a picture lines up, tap ◎ in the ghost view and Save this alignment. That records your GPS position, the bearing and the picture's angular width on this phone. Export the file and drop it into data/calibrations.json on the server so every device gets the corrected pins.

Export my calibrations

Camera, GPS and compass

Browsers only allow these on HTTPS pages. On the plain-HTTP homelab address, use Photo match, or open the Tailscale HTTPS address described in the README. Long-press the map to simulate standing somewhere.

Images come from Wikimedia Commons, all public domain. Pictures painted from a boat are marked; on private ground you can usually see the same scene from the road. Please respect property.

About Vantage · free, public-domain art, CC BY data.