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April 14 2011
What the Heck is Google Earth Doing to the Bridges of Our Fair Planet?
Perusing Google Earth’s quilt of aerial images is good for hours of stalkerish fun (Find your house! Find your ex’s house!). But every now and then, Google’s geo toy can also bend the fabric of reality—literally:
Something’s wrong with this picture…
Get ready for a bumpy ride!
Artist and programmer Clement Valla has discovered 60 strange, beautiful scenes where Google Earth’s mapping has gone awry, as you may have seen in a post on Boing Boing. So what’s really happening in these pictures? Here’s Valla’s explanation:
The images are the result of mapping a 2-dimensional image onto a 3-dimensional surface. Basically, the satellite images are flat representations in which you only see the topmost object—in this case you see the bridge, and not the landmass or water below the bridge. However, the 3D models in Google Earth contain only the information for the terrain–the landmass or the bottom of the ocean.
When the flat image is projected onto this 3-dimensional surface, the bridges are projected down onto the terrain below the bridge. In other words, the bridge appears to follow the terrain that it actually goes over.
The view is further complicated ...
November 12 2010
What Does Your City Smell Like? DARPA Wants to Know
How could the government know about a chemical attack before it wreaks havoc? By smelling it.
But the problem is, to detect an abnormal stench, the government first needs to know the city’s normal aroma, to have an idea of its “chemical profile.” To that effect, DARPA just released a solicitation looking for suggestions on how to best build chemical composition maps of major United States cities. Spencer Ackerman over at Wired’s Danger Room t0ok a look at the solicitation and explained what DARPA is looking for:
The data Darpa wants collected will include “chemical, meteorological and topographical data” from at least 10 “local urban sources,” including “residences, gasoline stations, restaurants and dry cleaning stores that have particular patterns of emissions throughout the day.”
Then, subsequent chemical readings from the area could be compared to the “map” to check for abnormal chemicals in the air. Since many chemicals that can be used in a terrorist attacks are normally found around our cities, it’s difficult to just screen for them without having an idea of their baseline levels, explains Wired:
In theory, chemical attacks can be detected before they happen. Even trace amounts of chemicals give off specific signatures that tools like sorbent tube samplers can register. But in order to figure out if dangerous chemicals are stockpiled somewhere or are floating through the air, the government’s going to have to know the baseline level for those chemicals wafting near your trash receptacle.
DARPA is looking for proposals on how best to collect data while spending less than 30 minutes doing it. They also want to collect information on the two-day fluctuations in chemicals, and take readings at different times of the year, says Wired.
Then they’ll adjust for atmospheric and environmental variables like wind speed, humidity and time of day–when, say, the dry cleaners’ is open to spew perchloroethylene vapor into the air–to account for the impact on chemical potency. They’ll use that data to “predict concentrations down to trace gas concentrations of 10 parts per trillion” across a whole city.
I wonder if they could pick up the maple syrup smell in NYC.
Related content:
80beats: DARPA’s New Sniper Rifle Offers a Perfect Shot Across 12 Football Field
80beats: DARPA’s Kooky $40,000 Scavenger Hunt
80beats: How to Turn a Frog Egg Into a Robot’s Artificial Nose
Discoblog: Beware, Bomb-Makers: This Worm Has Your Number
Discoblog: Genetically Engineered Bugs Can Smell Blue Light
Image: Flickr/Save vs Death
November 05 2010
The Secret Knowledge of Taxi Drivers Could Be Added to Online Maps
Microsoft researchers in Beijing are trying to best Google maps by culling knowledge from a mythical beast known as the taxi driver.
The Microsoft folks are trying to improve their online maps using the cabbies’ deep knowledge of Beijing. The problem with typical maps and the directions they offer is that the shortest route isn’t always the fastest route. In big cities, cabbies know which side streets offer shortcuts, and what areas of the city to avoid at which times.
The researchers are trying to rake that data out of the cabbies’ habits by analyzing the GPS data from over 33,000 taxis in Beijing. The group at Microsoft Research Asia, led by Yu Zheng, developed an approach (called T-drive) to analyze and merge this cabbie data with satellite maps to improve the mapping experience and offer faster directions–even if the driver doesn’t engage in the lane swerving, honking, and pedestrian slaloming that give cabbies an edge. 
As Technology Review reports:
According to the Microsoft researchers, the routes suggested by T-Drive are faster than 60 percent of the routes suggested by Google and Bing maps (which provide essentially the same driving time estimates as each other). Overall, T-Drive can shave about 16 percent off the time of a trip, the researchers say, which translates into about 5 minutes for every 30 minutes of driving.
This approach could work just as well in other dense, cabbie-infested cities. The team is also working on projects that will incorporate real-time accident and traffic data into these “smart” maps.
Technology Review reports that other companies trying to improve maps and directions are taking data from driver’s cell phones in California and Boston, while a person-to-person route sharing application called WAZE allows you to share tips with your social network.
Related content:
Discoblog: Google Street View Goes to Antarctica, Brings Maps to the Penguins
80beats: NASA Satellites Use Lasers to Map the World’s Tallest Forests
80beats: Google Street View’s Privacy Blunder Just Keeps Getting Worse
Cosmic Variance: Self-Driving Cars
Bad Astronomer: Astronomer make first map of extrasolar planet!
DISCOVER: Big Picture 5 Reasons Science [Hearts] Google
Image: Flicrk/Boris van Hoytema
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