this is awesome

liquid_smoke · 01-20-2005, 11:43 AM

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/porta...lla-030642.php

why oh why cant someone in the US at least start working on real 3D gps maps.

MoFo · 01-20-2005, 11:57 AM

thats cool. looks llke a video game

Skipjacks · 01-20-2005, 11:59 AM

That really is awesome

How do they do a thing like that? Do the buildings on the map look like the real ones? Or are they generic buildings?

And how the hell do oyu program a thing like that? I'd think that would take up a mamoth amount of data storage to house all that information.

Anyway...it makes me glad I went with a carputer rather than a preassembled nav system. Now I have expasion options to upgrade to this kind of system when it becomes the industry standard.

liquid_smoke · 01-20-2005, 12:07 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Skipjacks

That really is awesome

How do they do a thing like that? Do the buildings on the map look like the real ones? Or are they generic buildings?

And how the hell do oyu program a thing like that? I'd think that would take up a mamoth amount of data storage to house all that information.

Anyway...it makes me glad I went with a carputer rather than a preassembled nav system. Now I have expasion options to upgrade to this kind of system when it becomes the industry standard.

I got a feeling its gonna be a very long time before something like this comes to the US, and even when it does its gonna suck at first.

as far as data storage, i dont think it would take up huge amounts of data. Depends on the level of detail in the 3d models and textures etc. Probably can only load up one city at a time, but hey since its 3D they can use all the tricks people been using in 3D games for years.

Something like this can happen for US maps, and really wouldnt take a super long time to do if the right people were working on it, someone just needs to get off there *** and start doing it.

I dont know if those buildings in the pic are accurate structures in japan, never been there. But even if they are close its a huge step ahead of a 2D map.
Sony has something just like this, looks even cooler than this one, link around here somewhere.

rando · 01-20-2005, 12:12 PM

This was discussed a few months back. The real trick is getting your hands on that kind of data. At the moment, I'm not aware of anyone having such a repository for the US or even individual cities.

Skipjacks · 01-20-2005, 12:19 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by rando

This was discussed a few months back. The real trick is getting your hands on that kind of data. At the moment, I'm not aware of anyone having such a repository for the US or even individual cities.

Yeah how'd you like to be the guy that programs a thing like that?

"Hey, Joe! Grab your digital camera and go take pictures of every building in America"

haha

rando · 01-20-2005, 12:24 PM

You can probably extract a good deal of information from the various building plans that are vaulted with local government agencies. You could always fake the exact color and facade of the builings -- something approximate would still be cool. The actual software itself isn't a huge deal as it's nothing substantially different than a typical 3D game rendering engine.

jjh221 · 01-20-2005, 12:42 PM

think they started that in japan

scott_fx · 01-20-2005, 12:58 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by jjh221

think they started that in japan

They could just extractapolate the data from topographical sat. images. the building models would most likely be generic anyways. textures would just be baked onto the building (like in video games). but it still is huge task.

We've done some stuff like that here, but for terrain not for buildings

knubile · 01-20-2005, 01:00 PM

MS Flight simulator has great detail of cities doesn't it? Let's find some hook in that game!

DRWeside · 01-20-2005, 02:00 PM

We worked on something similar here. Creating walkthroughs of Central Park using GIS information and rendering objects from a GIS database. We had to physically walk through the paths that were to be shown, take pictures of the structures and surrounding areas and then transfer these to the GIS database using GIS software. Took about a week to put a few walkthroughs together. I wouldn't want to be part of a team that had to do that for the entire U.S.

kandyman676 · 01-20-2005, 02:04 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by DRWeside

We worked on something similar here. Creating walkthroughs of Central Park using GIS information and rendering objects from a GIS database. We had to physically walk through the paths that were to be shown, take pictures of the structures and surrounding areas and then transfer these to the GIS database using GIS software. Took about a week to put a few walkthroughs together. I wouldn't want to be part of a team that had to do that for the entire U.S.

Nice:-) yes, but think about it if it was an Open Source thing where people contributed their data to a central database (or databases). of course, I imagine the conversion is not something that is easy to do.

khemical · 01-20-2005, 02:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kandyman676

Nice:-) yes, but think about it if it was an Open Source thing where people contributed their data to a central database (or databases). of course, I imagine the conversion is not something that is easy to do.

Why bother do this? If you want a true "3d" gps software, why not just make a HUD for your car that will display it over real life? It'd be cheaper in the long run because you wouldn't need huge databases, nor a top of the line system to run it. Its nice to half of you think all of this is "easy"

steve

Skipjacks · 01-20-2005, 02:52 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by khemical

Why bother do this? If you want a true "3d" gps software, why not just make a HUD for your car that will display it over real life? It'd be cheaper in the long run because you wouldn't need huge databases, nor a top of the line system to run it. Its nice to half of you think all of this is "easy"

steve

I'd thought about something like this. I noticed the other day that if I lean way back (enough to get an angle on the windsheild) I see a crisp reflection of my monitor.

Back in the day I drove to Atlantic City. It was my first time going there and I didn't know the way. I printed out directions...backwards. I placed the backwards directions ont he dash in front of the steering wheel. As long as the sun was out the light reflected off the paper and the windshield and gave me a reflection of the directiosn (printed correctly) right in my field of vision, see through enough that I would safely see the road.

It was a makeshift HUD that gave me my directions without having to look down.

It occured to me that if you had an LCD screen show a reversed picture and put it in the same place (assuming the windsheild angle was right) you'd get the same effect.

It would involve alot of tweaking and brightness controll, but it could be a workable idea.

khemical · 01-20-2005, 03:07 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Skipjacks

I'd thought about something like this. I noticed the other day that if I lean way back (enough to get an angle on the windsheild) I see a crisp reflection of my monitor.

Back in the day I drove to Atlantic City. It was my first time going there and I didn't know the way. I printed out directions...backwards. I placed the backwards directions ont he dash in front of the steering wheel. As long as the sun was out the light reflected off the paper and the windshield and gave me a reflection of the directiosn (printed correctly) right in my field of vision, see through enough that I would safely see the road.

It was a makeshift HUD that gave me my directions without having to look down.

It occured to me that if you had an LCD screen show a reversed picture and put it in the same place (assuming the windsheild angle was right) you'd get the same effect.

It would involve alot of tweaking and brightness controll, but it could be a workable idea.

I don't know if any other makes/models offer this, but when i was looking into grand prix gtp's, they came with an option for HUD for speed/direction (NSEW). This is possible, but being a military type, what came to mind when I thought of this was a cockpit HUD (green lines/text on a flat screen in front of the windshield, as seen in video games).

If I did that though, I would obviously create a guidance system for great purpose. Only then would I mount some missiles hidden behind my headlights for people drving too slow for my likings. Can't forget the 30mm turrets for the pedestrians...

steve