Smile, you're on camera - AA's Geosmart, Google race to photo-map NZ
ON EVERY STREET: After two months of trials, a full-time driver for GeoSmart sets off today on a two-year mission to drive every New Zealand road - a 144,000km journey.
The AA-owned GeoSmart have driven the country before, creating maps to feed GPS systems from Navman, TomTom and others, mapping sites like Wises and AAMaps, and GIS systems. This time, things are a lot more accurate, and there's a need to capture whiz-bang multimedia images as Google also sends vehicles around the country to capture its own street panoromas.
Since January, GeoSmart's rival Terralink (a state-owned enterprise privatised in 2001) has had a van equipped with six cameras making a similar journey. Google, which partners with Terralink, has had cars photographing New Zealand streets since June last year and promises to launch a local version of its Street Views service "within months".
PIMP MY RAV: GeoSmart's vehicle, which it's dubbed the RAPIDcV (pictured above in Mt Eden's sought-after Marsden Avenue) is a Toyota SUV packing $250,000 of specialised GPS gear, gyros and accelerometres. It's the same level of of hardware you'd find in a guided missle, says GeoSmart business development manager Luigi Cappel. The fit out was done by Auckland company CVS Interactive; the IP is owned by GeoSmart.
15m to 15cm: Athough its software finesses things to an apparent pinpoint, the GPS system in your car is only accurate to within 15m.
The souped-up IMU (inertial measurement guidance system) inside the RAPIDcV uses accelerometres and other technology to compensate for the "GPS shadow" often thrown by hills, tree capanopies and buildings, which often throws out a consumer-level sat-nav (and can even fool your stationary car into thinking it's moving). The result: RAPIDcV can match GPS co-ordinates to images with 15cm accuracy.
To capture clean photos, image stabilisers and gyros compensate in real-time for what the test driver calls the RAPIDcV's "spongy suspension".
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THE FUN STUFF: One still and five video cameras will capture images as the RAPIDcV tours the country. A panoramic street scene will be shot every 50m a la Google's Street Views, which let users of its mapping service literally see what a street looks like from a pedestrian's point-of-view (and whose cameras have famously caught everyone from burglars to philanderers in the act).
THE SENSIBLE STUFF: Cappel says the RAPIDcV's panoramic shots could be used to jazz up any local mapping site. However, the the RAPIDcV's real work is more intense. It's side-mounted camera will record ever centre lane in the country; its top and side cameras every point of interest (from ATM's to rest-stops) to better feed GPS mapping units; and its inclimbometres and other gear will capture elevation and other data for commercial GIS (graphical information systems) use.
Current street maps can be 2m to 10m out, Cappel says. For one power company he recently spoke to, that meant it put a series of poles on the wrong side of the road - a blunder that cost it $50,000 to correct.
Google currently uses Terralink for the New Zealand iteration of its maps service, but GeoSmart is keeping a watching brief on the situation, and sees Google as a potential customer as well as a competitor.
1 MILLION MEGABYTES A WEEK: The RAPIDcV's constantly rolling cameras will capture more than 1 terabyte of images every week. That's 1000 gigabytes or 1,000,000 megabytes of data, fact fans.
Some of that data could be put into immediate effect to update today's maps, and photos on mapping and travel websites.
Some could be used in future, says Cappel. For example, elevation data captured could come into play once many of us are driving hybrid cars, and want to know where to hit the best hills for braking (converting kinetic energy from breaking is the main way hybrids recharge on the go).
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Comments and questions16
Cappel comments "For example, elevation data captured could come into play once many of us are driving hybrid cars, and want to know where to hit the best hills for breaking (converting kinetic energy from breaking is the main way hybrids recharge on the go)."
This makes no sense as you would have to expend more energy to go up the hill. A more sensible use would be to use the information to avoid hills and reduce overall energy use that way.
Perhaps instead of suggesting hybrid drivers attempt battery charging maneuvers while headed up-hill Cappel was suggesting that braking while traveling DOWN-hill would be a good idea..?.. Either that or breaking on the down-hill might not be a bad idea either as a hybrid is looses on lifetime energy consumption new from the car lot antway...
Not wishing to put words into Luigi's mouth, but I'm guessing he's talking about people breaking on the down part of a hill, which allows a hybrid driver the twin benefits of transferring kinetic energy to the battery, and not flying off the road as they round corners.
Either way, as hybrids utilise regenerative-braking, perhaps there is still hope whether broken or braking.
So philanderers and burglars can now be picked up in the act and their deeds seen via satellite over the internet, worldwide. That's not news.
George guessed at it 60 years ago, John foresaw it 2 millenia ago, but it was Luke who recorded it for our wisdom when he wrote "whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be broadcast from the housetops for all to hear". Did they foresee the internet age? Perhaps.
John McCain?
C'mon! John Key! Keep it local..
Terralink hasn't been state-owned this century.
If you are going to label something as being for "fact fans", at least get it correct.
1GB is 1024MBs, and 1TB is 1024GBs, etc.
If you where talking about the storage space that you need to Buy to hold all that data, then 1000 would do, as HDD companies (incorrectly) use 1000 when quoting sizes(to inflate the sizes of their HDDs), but for any actual use in computing(such as the amount of data captured by cameras), it is 1024.
Geosmart is another example of how this digital age is stripping away all the freedoms that the ANZACs and subsequent service men and women sought to preserve for future generations. In true Machiavellian form these technologies are marketed in terms of the freedom they will provide the user. In fact they will watch, listen, record and analyse us all.... and when people finally wake up to this new reality and decide they want things to change- they will discover they are very trapped.
Regenerative breaking is a technology that converts the kinetic energy into electricity and a number of cars are being designed to use this technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_brake
That is theoretically true, but it is about a range of things that can be done with this data. For example, in conjunction with data about the car's performance, knowing the incline of hills (and we have a few in New Zealand) could help people calculate the range of their vehicle between charges on a trip.
GeoSmart has no interest whatsoever in people. The data being collected is being gathered specifically for the purposes of improving information for car navigation instructions and similar services. GeoSmart has no interest or intention of posting any images of people on websites for any reason.
The imagery is being taken to collect information about the road's, intersections, the location of shops, restaurants, ATM's petrol stations and so on.
I'm sorry you were concerned Mrs F. Streetview is a Google concept and has nothing to do with GeoSmart. If GeoSmart does use any images, it might be to display a nice scenic view. This is to enhance freedom, not to infringe on it.
Even if the owners of Geosmart (and other similar companies) do not have an interest in people, there are others in the world (in positions of power) who will see instantly the potential for using your technology to monitor and control people. Look back in history (over a few hundred years) and you'll see a pattern of increasing regulations and data collection, (all over the world- not just in NZ) which has gained enormous momentum, and is heading us towards total surveillance and control. Soon I expect that all new cars will be fitted with the technology that's being developed. After a time there will be a series of high-profile kidnap or murder events in which the technology (conveniently)plays a crucial role in solving the crimes, and in protecting the innocent. Then governments will 'require' people to use it, for all sorts of plausible reasons- such as to protect the innocent. Please don't tell me that the data is uncompromisable. Then people who do not want to use the systems will be asked, "what are you hiding from?" At that point the notion of 'freedom' which the ANZACs - our forefathers- fought and died for, will be obliterated. To be contiually monitored (even by computers) is *not* freedom.
We've been conditioned to think that warfare means 'guns and gore'. As we don't have guns and gore in our lives at the moment, we conclude that we are not at war, and therefore, that we have 'freedom'. This makes our society - especially the younger generation - completely unsuspecting and vulnerable to other forms of warfare, particularly psychological and economic warfare. Further, today's popular culture conditions people to be strongly averse to being labelled 'paranoid' for thinking such things, let alone uttering (or typing) them!
I've noticed that many people of the oldest generation understand these sorts of concerns implictly and are deeply concerned for the younger generation... so, these thoughts are not mad rantings. Please ask any really old people about it all.
All this technology is creating more information. The more information the more accurate the analysis and the better the insight.
Perhaps better informed generals and admirals would not have sent men to die on the wrong beach at ANZAC Cove?
Or have foreseen that whole wasteful war before it started?
Let's give the diggers the benefit of the doubt - they were fighting for the freedom to make informed decisions, not to hide whatever illegal or immoral activities they may or may not have been up to.
Psychological and economic warfare has existed long before our technological age. Spanish inquisition? Opium wars? Christianity?
What really ticks me off is the apparent loss of simple spelling skills - how many times do these esteemed contributors assume that applied deceleration is called breaking?
Is this what our brave troops fought for the freedom to do?
I blame spellcheckers, of course. An appropriate enemy to joust with Mrs.F!
Have a happy day enhanced by technology!
Yes, of course, the more information, the more accurate the analysis and the better the insight.
But one also gets more analysis and insight about the analysis and insight (if you follow me): we might call this 'meta analysis' and 'meta insight'. Do you think this meta data is made available to the ordinary people providing all the raw data?? If you have any experience in computer programming you'll know that the meta data is where the real programming power is, and that it's not ordinarily provided to the end user. If the programmers (analgous to the power holders in our world) are 'good guys' then we have nothing to fear. But if they are not good guys, or if there is any risk of the meta data getting into the wrong hands, then (in our increasingly digitalised world) we have everything to fear.
When I used to programme interactive multimedia e-learning applications I realised I had taken on a god-like role, with regards to the end user's experience of the programme, and in terms of the meta data I was able to collect (which was unknown to the end user). The end user may have thought they had 'choices' in the programme, but really I had thought everything through before-hand and had anticipated and planned for all the available possible options (which I controlled without even being present). All the feedback (including applause) they received had been programmed in by me. I even felt myself beginning to despise end users who gullibly felt they were 'in control'. I also could have written lines of code to collect meta data such as 'how many incorrect attempts were made before getting the correct answer', so that the 'learning manager' could make an estimate of the person's 'ability', and thus make further decisions affecting that person's future. I found this unethical and didn't write the code to do it. There will be people who claim that collecting this kind of meta data is necessary for 'education' or for some other plausible but untruthful reason. The real reason is for the 'Learning Managers'' power and control over the students and their futures. My point here is that life in a digital world is anything but free; it is all about total control.
If you think you can be free in a digital world, let me tell you, you are also very likely to be despised by the powerholders (the 'programmers').
In a fully digital world there will be no need and no possibility of conventional warfare. But don't misunderstand this to be a blessing, it is not. Every communication and transaction by everyone will be monitorible, recordable, analysable, etc. A 'divide and conquer programme' has already split us all into little boxes independent of each other, reliant upon technology to connect us. A 'wussyfying' programme is presently being run in the armed forces. 'Globalisation' and so-called 'critical thinking' programmes are being run in schools.
We are a whisker away from the total control of a digitalised world, but, we are still a whisker away.
I'm well aware of the irony and perhaps hypocrisy of using this technology to write about these things. I can accept this, but feel that writing it is more important than not writing it. I'm grateful that even one person has read it and thought about it (thank you).
If you comprehend what I'm saying (above and beyond my simply claiming it), I hope that you will not be so eager to 'enhance' your life with digital technology.
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