In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Google is not alone trying to take advantage of trillions, Slashdot runs a story named Oxford Tests Self-Driving Cars.

Their summary: "Using advances in 3D laser mapping technology, Oxford University has developed a car that is able to drive itself along familiar routes. This new self-driving automobile uses lasers and small cameras to memorize everyday trips such as the morning commute. This car is not dependant on GPS because this car is able to tell where it is by recognizing its surroundings. The intent is for this car to be capable of taking over the drive when on routes that it has traveled before. While being driven, the car is capable of developing a 3D model of its environment and learning routes. When driving a particular journey a second time, an iPad on the dashboard informs the driver that it is capable of taking over and finishing the drive. The driver can then touch the screen and the car shifts to 'auto drive' mode. The driver can reclaim control of the car at any time by simply tapping the brakes."

Here's the results our latest poll on driverless cars. Out of 89 participants, 22% answered it won't happen or at least won't happen in their lifetime. That leaves out 30% believing the technology is almost ripe, 19% see driverless cars only on safe route, and 28% go to the point where insurance companies won't allow humans to drive anymore.

Those 78% of optimists seeing driverless cars happening are not alone. Forbes shares a 3-parts article named Fasten Your Seatbelts: Google's Driverless Car Is Worth Trillions: "Driverless car technology has the very real potential to save millions from death and injury and eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars of costs. Google’s claims for the car, as described by Sebastian Thrun, its lead developer, are:

1. We can reduce traffic accidents by 90%.
2. We can reduce wasted commute time and energy by 90%.
3. We can reduce the number of cars by 90%."

Part 3 of the article claims that this will happen much sooner than most think, Another article from the O'Reilly Radar is titled The driverless-car liability question gets ahead of itself.

The new poll we offer you asks Does the public realize the omnipresence and importance of geospatial technologies?, as much as we can guess what's in "the public's mind". Is was directly influenced by the recent story named Mapping Creates Jobs and Drives Global Economic Growth.

Our previous poll on Google's Augmented Reality 'Project Glass' gave the following results, out of 88 answers - much less than usual - we have 39% optimists seeing it as a success, with 10% of those anticipating it will dramatically enhance our lives. The rest, 61%, is much less enthusiastic about AR glasses, with 25% going to the point that augmented reality doesn't that much value.

Our new poll is also related to technology where Google is involved, driverless cars. In a recent NYTimes article, a Google engineer claims that driving cars “is the most important thing that computers are going to do in the next 10 years.” What's your take?

Here's the recent geonews in batch mode.

From the open source front:

• OpenGeo runs an entry named Five things you didn’t know about GeoExplorer

From the major companies front:

• I liked the Google vs Apple mapping discussion from Peter Batty: "Google announces that it is scared of Apple Maps
  [...] Now don't get me wrong, Google is the market leader and Apple has everything to prove." See also his entry named Apple Maps: Predictions and Questions, which are also of course innovations Google could implement. Viva competition! (well ok, I admit I prefer cooperation ;-)
• James has an interesting entry named One Man's Disruptor is Another Man's Incumbent, the incumbents are Google Maps, MapQuest, Esri and Microsoft, and the disruptors are MapBox, Esri and Apple

• Via O'Reilly, the connection between Google Street View and driverless cars: "Now, I’m realizing the biggest Street View data coup of all: those vehicles are gathering the ultimate training set for driverless cars." Read the comments, driverless cars data is not simple

• There's 2 new modules for Bing Maps V7: GeoJSON and WKT reader/writer modules

• The GEB discusses Using StreetView to validate 3D models

Discussed over Slashdot:

• NASA Tool Shows Where Forest Is Being Cut Down
• Autralian Mining Companies Increasing Use of UAVs

• Cognitive Software Identifies America's Brainiest Cities
• John Carmack Is Building a Virtual Reality Headset
• Trained Rats Map Minefields With GPS

In the everything-else category:

• The eoPortal shares an entry named US not losing its foothold in Earth observing satellites, only shifting power
• The eoPortal also mentions a new imaging system produces 3D models of monuments using unmanned aircraft
• On that very topic, DM shares an article named Ten Things You Should Know About Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
• VerySpatial have an informative entry on geospatial at the upcoming London Summer Olympics and U.K. in general

• AR as entertainment of the future? Kinect and RFID power an augmented reality theme park (via OR)

In the maps category:

• Here's a nice visualization of 56 years of tornadoes in the U.S.

As a bonus for reading till the end, here's a interesting quote: "If a picture is worth a thousand words, a map can be worth a thousand spreadsheets."