Geoscience Reference
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FIGURE 19.7 The Bundler open source image reconstruction software used to create a 3D point cloud from
tourist photos of London's Trafalgar Square. (From Snavely, N. et al., Int. J. Comput. Vis. , 80, 189, 2008.
With permission.)
developments to the attention of those expressing interest. For example, a network of concerned
hydrologists could be alerted via social network software whenever another dam is removed from
a river system anywhere on earth and linked into a live webcam at the site. Images capable of
recognising their own content and in making that information discoverable might truly be called
smart images. This will involve feature level coding, automated metadata creation and complete
lineage coding. It could also recognise event sequences or narratives (NRC, 2010). For example,
the reverse-pointing camera worn on my head could alert me when I'm being approached from
behind in a suspicious way or when one of my friends' faces is recognised nearby. By 2061, this
capability will be in every camera and smartphone and embedded into our vision systems via
bionics or augmented reality.
By 2061, the current concern with merging spatial and temporal movement, patterns and trends
will be thoroughly researched, have substantial theory and be linked to new suites of methods for
visualising and interpreting movement and actions. Theory will link real time with longer time
horizons, for example, weeks, months, years and geological eras. There will be standardised and
well-understood means by which simulations and artificial environments are integrated with current
and near-time data. Personal guidance systems could be highly customised; for example, a personal
global positioning system (GPS) could recognise a route and ask if we are retracing a visit we made
a year ago. In a group decision-making environment, say a local planning meeting, the entire future
of a building could be simulated, along with the associated uncertainties, and presented to the audi-
ence for approval or modification. Furthermore, these capabilities are likely to embrace all of our
senses and respond to voice, touch and human thought. Just as today's Internet is still largely word
and text oriented, yet has transformed memory, communication and social activity, future develop-
ments in multisensory input and output are likely to change the meaning and purpose of the web and
its content. The digital earth vision, as a framework on which to hang georeferenced information,
could create a digital globe that is simultaneously all of human memory, the knowledge base of
human experience and history and a day-to-day representation that frames our perceptions, if only
as the base for augmented information.
The latter implies that geography must reframe its role as an academic discipline. When
all geographical data and facts are instantaneously retrievable, they become simply the basis
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