Quakr XTECH07 17th May, 2007

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Quakr XTECH07 17th May, 2007

Part 1

Dave: Laying the Foundations
(The Plan)

The Giants' Approach - Google Earth

Google Earth

The Giants' Approach - Google SketchUp

Google SketchUp

The Giants' Approach - Microsoft Virtual Earth

Microsoft Virtual Earth

Limitations (1)

Q. Where does Microsoft's 3D data come from?

A. Microsoft

That's a pretty big task to have taken on!

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 At Christmas

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)

A reasonable question in the year 2000:

An Alternative (3)

Who saw THAT coming!?

An Alternative (4)

And give the people tools to make this easy...

Flat Mashups (1)

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

Flat Mashups (2)

Photos nearby: Zooomr

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)

Metadata for photos in 3D (5)

Is it practical for users to measure these rotations?

Metadata for photos in 3D (6)

Metadata for photos in 3D (7)

Quality of the world will improve with:

• increasing user interest
• advancing camera technology

Quakr constraints

Quakr constraints

1. Quakr should run in a browser.
2. Quakr should require little or (preferably) no installation.
3. Quakr should be a thin client, consuming raw resources.
4. Quakr should add context information to enhance the 3D experience.
5. Quakr should adapt to an ever changing semantic web.

Part 2

Peter: 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"

Flickr API single

A second query for each image

http://farm{farm-id}.static.flickr.com/{server-id}/{id}_{secret}_[mstb].jpg =>
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/164/364490580_426a5c9ec2.jpg

Viewr technology options (1)

Version 0.01: Java applet

Viewr technology options (2)

Version 0.02: VRML/X3D with a plugin

Viewr technology options (3)

Version "Just Works" - Flash + SANDY 3D API

http://www.flashsandy.org/

Adding context

Map tiles for floor

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

There are other services...

Live Demo

Part 3

Katie: What is a "Brick" anyway?
(SWeb Issues)

Using Tagging Metadata

"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)

Synonyms and Homonyms (2)

Synonyms and Homonyms (3)

Semantic Ambiguity One (1)

"Tilt"

Semantic Ambiguity One (2)

What does "Tilt" mean?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa © *natsu* (cc by-nc-sa/2.0)

Semantic Ambiguity One (3)

What does "Tilt" mean?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa © *natsu* (cc by-nc-sa/2.0)

Semantic Ambiguity One (4)

What does "Tilt" mean?

Semantic Ambiguity One (5)

What does "Tilt" mean?

http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_tags_21.html

Semantic Ambiguity One (6)

What does "Tilt" mean?

http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_tags_21.html

Semantic Ambiguity Two (1)

What do "geo:lat" and "geo:long" mean?

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

Semantic Ambiguity Two (2)

What do "geo:lat" and "geo:long" mean?

Semantic Ambiguity Two (3)

What do "geo:lat" and "geo:long" mean?

France 1 © SqueakyMarmot (CC Attr 2.0)

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

Inaccuracy

Inaccuracy

Sparseness

P1030675 © cesargp (CC By-nc-sa/2.0

Tolerating Sparse Data Sets

Technical approaches:

1. Defaulting - tilt
2. Enhancement - altitude

Data Enhancement

www.earthtools.org/webservices.htm

Abundance

Spam

The Power of Heuristics

Future Work

• Heuristics to handle emerging taxonomies
• Pruning image jungles
• Enhancement of sparse data, using:
  • webservices
  • co-occuring tags
• More sources - CCTV?
• Geolocated sound?

Conclusion 1 - What we Did

1. Aim: 3D world built from community contributed metadata, which runs in a browser
2. Geotagging
3. What metadata would be needed?
4. What are people actually doing?
5. Our Flash App
6. Which is tolerant and recycles

Conclusion 2 - What we are still struggling with

1. Messy tagging data - "heading"/"dir"
2. Semantic ambiguity - what does "tilt" mean?
3. Inaccuracy - GPS
4. Sparse data (enhancement)
5. Overabundant data - image jungles
6. Spam

http://www.quakr.co.uk