There has been a lot of talk about Google Maps, and maps in general, throughout this tragic event. One blogger put out an open call to Google to make updated satellite imagery of the area available (much like Bret Taylor and the Google Maps team made a reality during the Katrina flooding in New Orleans). Accuracy of route plotting features present in online mapping services such as Google Maps have also been discussed. One satellite company even offered its services to help in the search. I've also just come across a map which shows the distance James covered to try to find help. It's staggering how far he walked! Here is a summary of some of these items:
- James Kim's Path
- Ikonos satellite used to help in search
- Key points in search for missing family
- Don'’t blame Google maps for Kim'’s death
- MAPS: Internet travel directions need to be checked carefully
- Tragedy spurs need to upgrade road maps
2 comments:
Mike,
I just saw the article about Ikonos satellites helping on the tragedy thanks to your links. Satellites are beautiful tools but because of their orbits, they cannot be easily scheduled over an area. Then on top of it, there is always the issue of clouds which may postpone imagery by three days (this is the time some of these satellite take to come over the same location). After the tragery of Katrina some of my students and I decided to see if the concept of flying a camera on a stratospheric balloon (this was our opportunity but we could have flown much lower with a UAV, RC plane, Cessna, Helicopter,..you name it) could provide some of this terrain information sooner. The idea was to take photos with no additional information such as GPS or IMU and see if somehow we could produce something interesting by making sure the camera was taking overlapping shots. By the time we flew in September, we had found an algorithm that would do the stitching automatically. The results are here for an hour of flight:
http://sei.tamu.edu/geocam/Panoramas/panorama_22-23-50pct.htm
We had 4 GB of data out of which 2 are unusable because of clouds.
We did a small study on the actual resolution and this is what we obtained:
http://hasp-geocam.blogspot.com/2006/10/comparing-satellite-imagery-and-geocam.html
We were overly conservative and ended up having only a narrow swath of land but we could have gotten more.
My point is that in scenarios of search and rescue on large swath of land, it looks like there is a way to :
* produce a very detailed map that does not need a cumbersome insertion inside google maps (Google has shown tremendous responsivity in Katrina's case) or other current mapping application,
* while using only a $500 camera (which at 112,000 feet provides satellite imagery quality, you can imagine how much better it is at 3000 feet).
After having been stitched together in a matter of minutes after downloading images from the camera, that map can be put on the web for millions of people to evaluate.
It is certain that only the few eyes of the search and rescue folks cannot in the end compete with the eyeballs of millions of people.
Igor.
did the Kim's have OnStar in their new SAAB 95 Wagon? (I have the same car, OnStar is not activated, but I can connect to OnStar to activate it 24/7...I believe it is built into SAABs). Any information is appreciated.
...Taylor
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