Quicker 3D Models of Cities

Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have a new way to quickly create a 3D model of a city. How quickly? A half hour of driving and 4 or so of data processing for a piece of downtown Berkeley. It’s photography plus laser data that underlies the process. It’s called “virtualised reality” by creator Avideh Zakhor. The US army funded much of the research so it will be the first user. In time the data models might be part of navigation systems.

Sensing Noise

Lightposts in Westminister (London) will soon be listening for noise. The idea is to alert authorities before the noise stops and before neighbors complain. I rather like the idea; the “kids” next door often party too late for me.

Human Error in Sub Crash

A submarine crash that killed one and injured 97 in January was initially blamed on improper data on maps, mostly from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, NGA. In a report released on Sunday, the blame shifted more to the officers involved. They relied, says the report, on a single chart that did not note the hazard. Most other maps, while not detailing the feature, did note hazards in the area. That should have been enough, says officials to alert the navigation experts to “go around” the questionable area.

New Floor Ads

I’ve seen ads for events chalked on the paths at college campuses,  and some sidewalk marking in my city, but I recently saw floor ads at the supermarket. Outside of Philadelpia the 2 foot square graphics are laid out in the aisle so that a shopper standing and facing them would see the item advertised at about eye level on the shelf. I stood in front of several and easily found the package that exactly matched the frozen lasagna and cookies. I’m sure kids would love this! Then I visited the dairy case. I could match the soy milk to its ad, but had trouble with the calcium supplement ad. It said: “Find the product in the vitamin aisle.” Clearly, the target audience is expected to be buying dairy for the rest of the family and this “location-based ad” is supposed to get them to think about themselves and take a walk to get the pills.

Non-compete News

If you have, or may someday, sign a non-compete, do yourself a favor and read this article (free registration required) in the New York Times. My advice to you? Don’t sign one if at all possible.