Quakr Where 2.0 29th May, 2007

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Quakr Where 2.0 29th May, 2007

Where 2.0, The Fairmont, San Jose

Who is Quakr?

Dave, Katie and Peter

This talk

1. Laying the Foundations
   (The Plan)
2. Bricks and Mortar
   (What We Built)
3. What is a "Brick" anyway?
   (Semantic Web Issues)

Part 1

Laying the Foundations
(The Plan)

The Giants' Approach - Google Earth

Google Earth

The Giants' Approach - Microsoft Virtual Earth

Microsoft Virtual Earth

Limitations (1)

Q. Where does that 3D image data come from?

A. Internally (basically)

That's a never ending task!


The Forth Bridge © Steve Makin (cc by-nc-nd/2.0)

Limitations (2)

Q. How flexible are these worlds?

Arc De Triomphe By Night

Arc De Triomphe In The Snow

Arc De Triomphe In The Fog

Arc De Triomphe Yesterday

A. Not very.

Limitations (3)

The installation is taking longer than expected...

An Alternative (1)

Geotagging

_DSC6019 © youngrobv (cc by-nc-nd/2.0)

An Alternative (2)

The numbers speak for themselves - and make new projects viable...

"Flat" Mashups

Photos positioned on maps: http://loc.alize.us

Quakr

Metadata for photos in 3D (1)

Metadata for photos in 3D (2)

Metadata for photos in 3D (3)

Metadata for photos in 3D (4)

Why rely on user metadata anyway?

Quality of the renderable world dependent upon:

• user interest - which is increasing
• camera and GPS technology - which is advancing
• e.g. the world will improve "for free"
• 

Quakr constraints

Quakr constraints

1. Quakr should run in a browser.
2. Quakr should be a thin client, consuming raw resources.
3. Quakr should adapt to an ever changing semantic web.

Part 2

Bricks and Mortar
(What We Built)

Capturing the Data

We need to capture a pile of meta data...

Nokia (550/Sport?) Phone with "tilt" :

Digital Compass and a 3-Axis orientation + compass :

Basically; we want a camera + a GPS device + a "gizmo" :

Homemade - 7D Tiltometer (1)

Basic conclusion - nothing exists... so we built one...

Get a camera and some basic stationery items...

Homemade - 7D Tiltometer (2)

Stick protractors to a camera, add string and plumb bobs :

Homemade - 7D Tiltometer (3)

Add a compass and a GPS device :

Homemade - 7D Tiltometer (4)

One person to take the photos, one to log the readings :

What and how to tag

The choice of tags for the test data was guided by two principles:

• 1. Use the semantically correct term
• 2. Use whatever everyone else is using
• 

Alternative image APIs

Require bounding box query and ability to add tagged meta data

Possibles include;

A fully tagged image on Flickr

Machine Tagged...

Flickr API bounding box

Bounding Box API query

"http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/?method=flickr.photos.search
&api_key=XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx&min_taken_date=1970-01-01%252000%3A00%3A00
&bbox=-1.3%2C51.754%2C-1.2%2C51.755&tags=quakr&extras=machine_tags"

Viewr technology options (1)

Java applet or VRML/X3D?

Viewr technology options (3)

Version "Just Works" - Flash + 3D API called Sandy

http://www.flashsandy.org/

Adding context

Map tiles for floor

Altitude of floor (http://www.earthtools.org)

There are other services...lets demo!

Part 3

What is a "Brick" anyway?
(Semantic Web Issues)

Using Tagging Metadata (1)

"Tagging: describing web content using whatever words seem right" [Beckett06]

Milton Keynes Recycling Factory © gavinandrewstewart (CC Attr 2.0)

Benefits of Data tolerance

We, the people..

Mexican Wave © ~Prescott (CC Attr-NC 2.0)

Synonyms and Homonyms (1)

Dual (competing) Specifications

Synonyms and Homonyms (2)

Different syntax - same semantics?

Semantic Ambiguity (1)

Latitude and Longitude

http://www.makezine.com/ blog/archive/2005/07/how_to_gps_tag.html

Semantic Ambiguity (2)

Or the place I was taking a photo of?

France 1 © SqueakyMarmot (CC Attr 2.0)

Evening At the Park © StuckInCustoms (CC Attr-Nc 2.0)

Inaccuracy (1)

Our 7D Tiltometer GPS device...

actual results...

Inaccuracy (2)

The Quakr Taggr solution!

Sparseness (1)

It's good, but not quite good enough...

P1030675 © cesargp (CC By-nc-sa/2.0

Sparseness (2)

Technical approaches:

1. Defaulting - tilt
   ( ~= 90 = straight ahead)
2. Enhancement - altitude
   ( ~= ground + 1.5 metres)

Abundance

An Image Jungle

Conclusion 1 - What we Did

1. Aim: 3D world built from community contributed metadata, which runs in a browser
2. Saw and examined the emergence of Geotagging
3. Considered what metadata would be needed
4. Examined again what people are actually doing
5. Built the prototypical 7d Tiltometer
6. Built the Viewr Flash App - which is tolerant and recycles

Conclusion 2 - imminent work

1. Alternative Map Tiles - OpenStreetMap
2. Enhanced Altitude - for a "bumpy floor"
3. Simplify our Flickr query - less data to sift
4. Time Slider - shows 4th dimension
5. Move away = reload - explore the world
6. Build Community - that's our job...

http://www.quakr.co.uk

Sightseeing in Quakr