> So I believe a 3d environment in real time is the minimum starting > point. So I could go to something like Second Life, but that lacks the > scope and ambition of mirroring reality itself.
Beware the follies of the 1:1 scale map! Maps convey meaning about reality that is something beyond information. Adding more information (mirroring reality) does not necessarily convey the meaning. The problem of the red dot and the similar debate elsewhere about the quality of "GIS maps" has to do with this lack of meaning. Humans are very good at communicating meaning (and arguably less good about communicating information). We are so good at communicating meaning that this quality is often overlooked. Computers excel at communicating information and there's a tendency among IT people to get so wrapped up in the information capabilities of the computers that they eschew meaning. > So we need to concentrate on 3d, audio, video, and the real world like > Google Earth's and Microsoft Virtual Earth's 3d modelling efforts. > Capturing data and extracting computable information, rather than > humans translating for computing convenience. There are two broad classes of geospatial information. One class focuses on cartographic products - information is generalized to facilitate communication among humans. The other is geospatial modeling - information is generalized to facilitate computer modeling of geographic processes. Beware that Google and Microsoft are really only interested in the first class of information. Their products are designed for human consumption - not for computer modeling. -Eric On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 7:04 AM, Brian Grant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > is this a fair summary of what you're looking for, Steve? > > geo-spatial index with following attributes: > > - 3 dimensional (designated regions of volume) > - recursive divisions and subdivsions of regions (resolution increases > with address length) > - converted from lat-long (locating a single point of reference > contained within universally addressable region) > - resolution of the designated region based on accuracy of the location > measuring device (how precise - and hopefully accurate - is your GPS > performance?) > > if so, I am too. > > - Brian > > > > stephen white wrote: > > On 17/06/2008, at 8:36 AM, Raj Singh wrote: > >> One simple way to discuss this in the short term is to start "wanking" > >> on the various spatially-enabled, Yahoo Pipes-like tools. I know this > >> isn't as meta or universal as you're talking about, but it's a place > >> we can mess around with coding and not just talk theory. > > > > > > I took a couple of days before replying so that I could think of an > > explanation for my problem with Pipes/mashups in this context. > > > > First, the points in favour of your suggestion are that removing the > > map interface does generalise the information to a more general > > context. The use of programming does create the flexibility to relate > > information that is not reduced to a red dot on a map. > > > > But... :) > > > > The problem is that the information has already been reduced before it > > can be manipulated by the code. It is no longer three dimensional, and > > it is no longer surrounded by the original context. The data has been > > captured and slotted into categories. > > > > So pipes and mashups are the valley of death that we keep rushing our > > minds into, because it's not one problem. It's two different problems. > > The mashup has specific interfaces to display the data it is handling. > > The information needs to be the full amount of data that was captured. > > > > So we need to concentrate on 3d, audio, video, and the real world like > > Google Earth's and Microsoft Virtual Earth's 3d modelling efforts. > > Capturing data and extracting computable information, rather than > > humans translating for computing convenience. > > > > > > Sure, I could go work for companies doing that kind of stuff, but to > > be a matter of routine existence it does need to be ad-free. So... > > free. :) > > > > Steve. > > > > -- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Geowanking mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > > Checked by AVG. > > Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1510 - Release Date: 6/19/2008 > 3:21 PM > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking > -- -=--=---=----=----=---=--=-=--=---=----=---=--=-=- Eric B. Wolf 720-209-6818 PhD Student CU-Boulder - Geography
_______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
