It is not really re-inveting the wheel. The automatic stitching algorithm did not see the light of they day until 2004. It has only been commercialized for the past three years and never used for that type of application (producing large maps).

One more thing that provides some additional data points:

http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/2007/10/producing-maps-using-commercial.html

Igor.

I have some experience with stratospheric flight and with their ability to provide near satellite resolution:
http://hasp-geocam.blogspot.com/2006/10/comparing-satellite-imagery-and-geocam.html

but I can see where it is not practical to fly a balloon in a disaster or a war zone. While UAV might be interesting, I believe it falls under all kinds of either US export controls or the host country’s regulation and let’s not even talk about customs.

I wonder, I have done some test from commercial jets and Cessnas and one can really assemble some type of map from flyovers. Do you think that this would be a good idea, I have written about this here:

http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/2007/09/imaging-from-sky-when-you-become-map.html

for instance if you fly over an area with no clouds, you can get results such as this one.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_0ZCyAOBrUtA/Ru-PgiyMQWI/AAAAAAAAAo8/RJ2Ujl5Il_8/s1600-h/10khigh1Pano+-+IMG_3848+-+1925×521+-+SLIN+-+Groupe+d%27image.jpg

And as I have mentioned before no need for experts, just drag and drop. I all boils down to a question of memory but we are now getting 8 GB SD card so a lot of data imagery can be gotten. The sharing of the data can be done with memory card or over the web using another free software.

No need for GE either.

Igor.

A couple of weeks ago I was emailed Paul Currion and happened to mention that I wanted to plot RSS news feeds on an easily accessible map. Paul passed my question onwards and it mushroomed into an interesting conversation between some very clever peo…..

I think it important to stay connected with the needs of the people we are trying to help – rather than trying to implement the latest “sexy” solution.

I think a lot of work goes into developing fancy technical systems, without enough consideration for the situation in the field. I have an Indonesian friend working for the UN Aceh. He’s got a PDA-Phone which they gave him to collect data in the field, however he finds that it is too slow to enter interview information, so he still writes it down on
paper, and then enters it in his phone later.

I know of some projects involving software which has been developed in a western context, but is inappropriate for use in developing countries. As a result the projects have failed, and this makes people more cautious of technology in future.

I definitely agree that a better forum (email list etc) is required for sharing idea in this field. Does anyone have any suggestions?

In regards to Kevin’s initial problem, I would go with Mikel’s suggestion of WordPress (www.wordpress.org), with some of the GIS plugins. I’ve currently using a Geo-Mashup Plugin (http://www.cyberhobo.net/downloads/geo-mashup-plugin/) which allows me to
add a Google map, plotting the locations of my posts, to my blog (http://www.fromthehorizon.com/blog-map/). It was relatively easy to set up, and very easy to use (location details can be added to posts with GPS co-ordinates, Geoname or selected from Google maps). I’m pretty sure that you can import RSS feeds into wordpress too. http://www.chrisandabigail.com/?page_id=71 is another Google maps plugin. It might be worthwhile converting the Google map to an image, which can be then sent as an email attachment, or more easily downloaded. My low-tech solution to this would be the “Print-Screen” key.

But the route from your e-mail message to real world success stories is long and tough. Some of the things you discuss are possible now, but are on the bleeding edge of technology. Downloading new drivers to solve a bluetooth compatibility problem between my phone and my GPS when I was out in the field was not an option. Remember, I have 100
kbit/sec of e-mail only, and less than 3 hours a week to devote to mapping-type work. That’s not enough time or bandwidth to futz around with stuff like this. It needs to “just work”.

You proposed a solution to this is: to have dedicated technology folks in the field that can make this stuff “just work” for the people at the edge who can’t or don’t want to do it for themselves. This is related to the charter of Jon’s organization, Humanlink (http://www.hlink.org). Jon and I made an exploratory trip to Indonesia this year to see how it works. We were successful at finding problems to solve, and at solving them. But they were not the fun problems you are thinking of… they were of the “implement DHCP in
this office”, “clean viruses off of these computers”, and “implement HTTP caching to reduce load on this satellite link” variety. Though I would have loved to be doing cool stuff with GPS, Google Maps, and cell phones, I was implementing technology form 1995 on small-office Ethernet networks. It’s not sexy, but it is unfortunately real life. There’s no such thing as silver bullets, nor quantum leaps in IT literacy. You have to drag people forward and you are not allowed to skip stages of technological development, no matter how exciting your new N95 phone is… someone’s still got to unclog the satellite link
and setup a wifi AP before you can use your phone!

(Data point: About the same time you were probably buying your N95 in Sweden, Jon and I were in Indo. We saw advertisements for the N95 on billboards in Bandah, Aceh. I didn’t look into availability and price, but Nokia is the dominant brand in Indo, and I’m certain that it was no fluke the N95 was on the billboard. The Nokia company store in Medan was nicer than Apple stores in the United States!)

Your vision of tech people in the field is great, such a good idea that Jon is already working on it! I will let Jon chime in and tell you how it’s going. (Jon has also networked with other people with the same vision, and knows their successes/problems.)

I am currently working (at very low, hobby-level intensity) on a project that could make it easier and cheaper to roll out server-based apps to the field. (One of the discoveries Jon and I made is that field sites should be using servers at the edge of their networks, but mostly are not yet because of lack up knowledge.) I’m exploring what’s capable on a Linksys router running OpenWRT. I’m working with this kind of cheap platform because it has attributes that make it usable in the field (low power, no fan, no spinning disk, cheap). This e-mail message, in fact, was posted from behind an HTTP proxy that (as soon
as I finish debugging my broken-ass C code) can substitute locally stored content for remote content, thereby dramatically reducing the bandwidth and latency for assets with known long expiration times, like web app UI images, Google Maps tiles, etc. (This is different than standards-compliant HTTP caching: the content I’m serving is put on the device before it ever gets out to the field setting, and is served to the local users without waiting for a round trip to the remote server to check the expiration policy. The content is stored on the device in the form of an “offline content” module. Such modules
could be created by the publishers themselves, if they wanted to ease access to their data at the edge of the network.)