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Linux Hits the Road

Posted by michael on from the roadkill dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Vicroads does regular surveys of the roads in Victoria, Australia, to determine where they need to be patched or otherwise repaired. It used to be done in a vehicle travelling at 20 kph: slow, tedious, and hazardous to the traffic around it. Now, thanks to Linux, it's being done at speeds of 80 to 100 kph. The Melbourne Age has the details. Short version: the cost has fallen from $1.2 million Australian to $850,000. Not bad..."

134 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. car video guidance by bryanthompson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been wanting to build a system that'd use cameras to find the lines on the road and keep my car between them. Now GPS would probably be an easier way to guide a car down the road, but i'd still like to see if it's possible, safe, and reliable.

    1. Re:car video guidance by HBI · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have often dreamed of a system whereby I could have four missiles stored in the quarter panels of my car. They would be vertical launch tubes with caps painted the same color as the car, to be less conspicuous.

      At the appropriate moment, I could press a steering-wheel mounted firing button to launch the missile. The missile would launch, locate the double yellow line in the middle of the road, and track it until it found the person blocking traffic. It would then break left till it circled around, slightly above traffic levels, do a pop-down maneuver, and lay into a slight up-angle as it strikes the driver's side rocker panel of the offending vehicle, knocking it off the road.

      Unfortunately, I don't believe the kinetic energy imparted by a small missile of the 50 lbs variety can actually do that to a 2 ton SUV (it's a given that someone in an SUV is blocking traffic. Ok, maybe a minivan). But I can dream, can't I?

      In the process of thinking about this, I realized a couple things that may be of interest to you. First, not all roads have the same kinds of painted lines. Some have shoulder marks. Some have buzz strips. Some have single yellow lines, and some have double. Some have single yellow lines with a dashed line on the other side (signifiying a passing lane). Assuring an optical sensor would be able to digest all these differing inputs would be challenging, to say the least.

      Also, what happens when a road has a middle passing lane with double yellow lines, dashed on the inside? Those confuse human drivers, I can guarantee an optical sensor would not be happy with that.

      What about turn lanes? NJ is famous for those stupid jug handles. Obviously a 'turn/go straight' decision would have to be made. But what happens when the primary road turns slightly at the point of the turn lane? Some interesting behavior of your automated system could result.

      I also doubt that GPS has the resolution to actually handle driving down a road. The promised CPE is big enough that you could ram into a telephone pole at just about any time.

      This is a really tough problem. I ultimately think that a passive response device along the lines of an RFID would be necessary to keep vehicles travelling in the correct direction. These would need to be installed along all road surfaces. For those which aren't equipped, we'd be stuck with the current method.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    2. Re:car video guidance by BigDish · · Score: 1

      It's been done before, at least on highways. Years ago I've seen on TV this had been done by universities, so I'm sure it's still progressing today.

    3. Re:car video guidance by Linux+Freak · · Score: 1

      GPS-based navigation? Hell, my girlfriend bought a Car Navi for her car (here in Japan); the map software revision is less than a year old. Yet, roads are changed and added so often, that the map shows us driving in places where we really have no business being (like, in the middle of parks, empty lots, driving through large buildings, etc). Also, her car is rather large (station wagon), and some streets in Tokyo are incredibly narrow. Yet the Navi has on many occasion led us into really snaky narrow "streets" with 90 degree turns and no place to go -- resulting in white knuckle backing up from where we just came from. :p Perhaps if maps would generated in real time by satellites or something this might work, but as it stands I wouldn't feel very comfortable relying on GPS-based navigation. ;-)

    4. Re:car video guidance by onya · · Score: 1

      i've been wanting to build some sort of time travelling cyborg to assasinate my political rivals.

      now winning an election would probably be easier, but i'd still like to see if it's possible and reliable. safety isn't really one of my primary concerns.

    5. Re:car video guidance by occamsarmyknife · · Score: 1

      Check out the NAVLAB 5 project, and other NAVLABS, there's some pretty impressive results although its hard to tell from the webpages.

      --
      "Until the become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious"
    6. Re:car video guidance by Eric+Ass+Raymond · · Score: 1, Interesting
      Ever considered that a bike has several advantages over a car:

      1) You'll get your daily exercise. It does not stress your joints so even if you're overweight you can start cycling straight away.
      2) No more getting stuck in a traffic jam, breathing the fumes and sweating your ass off.
      3) It's environmentally friendly.
      4) It's inexpensive.

      --
      BOO! TERRO
    7. Re:car video guidance by JWSmythe · · Score: 1

      You can't use GPS. It doesn't have the resolution to keep you between the lines. I played with some mapping software once, that always showed me running parallel to the roads. I believe the gov't still makes the civilian frequencies fuzzy intentionally. I did hear that they did make it better in the last couple years though.

      I've been dreaming of a system like that for a while now. Just remember, lines may be obscured, poorly drawn (adding and removing lanes), unmarked roads.

      Also, remember to put proximity sensors of some sort on. It's good to know your range and closing speed to objects ahead of you, plus range and closing speed of vehicles on your sides (cars changing lanes or coming at intersections).

      You'll need a bit of visualization too, to spot for stop signs and red lights. California is great, it's the only state I've ever seen that has traffic lights (red-yellow-green light) on it's expressways.

      Blindly following the lines, making sure you avoid other cars, and properly obeying traffic control devices, and you're driving better than most people on the road. :) I suppose obeying the speed limits would take a good bit of programming. :)

      Volvo had the proximity part done on one of their prototypes (shown here on /. a while back), but it was just for collision avoidance. Too bad they were using Win95 machines in the trunk to manage it. They kept crashing (software, not vehicular).

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    8. Re:car video guidance by enkidu · · Score: 1
      Yeah, when I was there, NAVLAB 1 (or was it 2) was a huge oversized van with two cameras (or was it three) a laser scanner, 5 or 7 sun workstations and two extra generators to keep stuff powered. And it went around 10 feet a minute. We would occasionally see it creeping around the park.

      I saw their latest thing on TV a few years back, the scaled down system consisted of a laptop and a tiny video camera clipped to the rear-view mirror. And the car was going 60 mph. Moore's Law + a decade and a half of software research + a goood chunk of DARPA research money can achieve pretty amazing results.

      --

      There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself
      -Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
    9. Re:car video guidance by Eric+Ass+Raymond · · Score: 1

      Nonsense. That's an urban legend.

      --
      BOO! TERRO
    10. Re:car video guidance by Eric+Ass+Raymond · · Score: 1
      Duh! Of course, if you have a deathwish and drive on a highway.

      Ever heard of smaller roads or does your country's road network consist only of 8-lane highways?

      --
      BOO! TERRO
    11. Re:car video guidance by BlaKmaJiK_ · · Score: 1

      Have you ever considered using those little reflectors in the road (yellow and white) to help in the tracking process?

    12. Re:car video guidance by evilviper · · Score: 1
      I've been wanting to build a system that'd use cameras to find the lines on the road and keep my car between them

      So has DARPA... See "Grand Challenge".

      Now GPS would probably be an easier way to guide a car down the road,

      *Evil Grin*

      Hmm, let's see... I believe the resolution of GPS is about 1 meter. Quite accurate really, just not accurate enough for the road. If your car is one meter off, that would either put it in a ditch at the right side of the road, or directly in the on-comming traffic lane. So, you won't be too happy with the results, but you're a shoe-in for a Darwin Award.

      but i'd still like to see if it's possible, safe, and reliable.

      Personally, I was thinking about entering the DARPA challenge, but I'm just one person, with nobody around here likely to want to help build it or even split the entry fee, so the work plus cost plus low odds of winning stopped me. But since I don't plan on using it, I'll be happy to spread my idea around...

      What I had been thinking of doing, is hooking up several USB laser range finders, and using them for all the work. Processing a video signal is quite an intensive, complex task, and error prone especially in road condidions not considered by the programmer.

      With the range finders (say a dozen) you could quickly and easily get input on the dimentions of the road. Specifically, you could find the left and right edges quite easilly. Obviously, you'd want to check up on the edge right next to you, and as far in-front of you as you could. It would be a good idea to also check on the left side to perhaps locate the line. It would be fairly easy to recognize a solid-line versus a broken-line as well.

      You'd almost certainly want plenty of sensors in the front, making sure you don't run into another car, or a pedestrian, and also make sure you know where the road ends, otherwise you are going to be in for a bumpy ride as your high-tech car goes straight over a cliff, or maybe hits a dip or bump too fast.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    13. Re:car video guidance by drsparkly · · Score: 1

      GPS by itself is only accurate to ~10m. So you wouldn't want to rely on it for positioning your car on the road! To get better accuracy you need Differential GPS but then you are looking to pay for the service as well as a new black box.

      Plus if you used GPS then you would be relying on the accuracy of maps etc, which in our application is pretty bad - the road lines layers sometimes shows roads going over water, for example...

    14. Re:car video guidance by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      My old job checked into building a shower in the office. It was going to cost $100,000. I was vigorously opposed to this colossal waste of resources, due to the fact that we needed other things and few people rode bikes to work (other than the VP who championed the idea). The idea was eventually defeated, not due to any lobbying of mine, but due to the cost. Fuckwits.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    15. Re:car video guidance by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      IANAIRS (Image Recognition Scientist) but the problem is both larger and smaller than you make it out to be in that you can get a certain amount of information about the road by looking at the road in general, other roads coming off of it, et cetera. Take for example a section of highway which is crossed by a road. In the US, this generally means that a center lane opens up for those turning left, there is sometimes a holding area in between the left-turning lanes for a car which is crossing the freeway (or heading to the far lanes, IE making a left onto the freeway) and there will be lanes used to depart the freeway while making right turns.

      The aware driver has a good idea of what will be coming up by the fact that there are roads going off to the sides. Even in a place with tall weeds or crops where you can't actually see those roads, you can tell they are coming. First, you get a "DO NOT PASS" sign in most cases, then the line on the road goes from dashed to half-dashed, indicating that you are no longer allowed to pass, but it's fine and dandy for oncoming traffic to do so, a sure sign that you are approaching some type of hazard. You may also see street signs, or those diagonally-mounted white-and-orange striped signs which signify a crossing road. (They are usually used in situations in which there is no stop sign provided in at least one direction.)

      So, if you are on a freeway, which if you didn't know already you can figure out with GPS and a map, and you see some of those things start to happen, then you know approximately what the lines are going to look like up ahead, or at least it suggests some possibilities to make things easier.

      Now, you are putting a lot of responsibility on the head of the "optical sensor". You do know that an optical sensor is a camera, right? The processing is not done by the camera, all it does is turn a bunch of voltage levels into a bunch of other voltage levels, and in the case of a digital camera, it freezes all those voltages and does as rapid an AtoD as it can manage, and generates a bitmap to be scrutinized. Optimally you would have not only optical but also some kind of other scanning, like sonar, radar, or laser, or some combination thereof. I see laser's job as being to handle the road in general, to get a broad geometric overview of the situation, while sonar is ideal for scanning the road surface immediately in front of (and beneath) the car to make verifications, while another laser unit could be used to get specific, detailed road information in the middle distance. Geometry is more important than appearance.

      Now the really tricky stuff is differentiating between lines which have been scraped off the road, and lines which actually belong. That's hard for real drivers. It will get even harder at night because even though the car could use IR to see things you can't, it will lose its color data, which can be immensely useful. I'm worried that a scraped-away line and a newly painted line might look a little too similar, but I'm sure that it's a solvable problem.

      Unfortunately, I am not one of the hundreds or thousands of people working on computer image recognition, and so this message full of suppositions is the best I can provide, but I know a little something about the field, plenty about the concepts, and I too am waiting for this technology to become widespread, if only so it can improve the quality of racing games. If you had a lot of road data, you could make an incredibly realistic game out of it :)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    16. Re:car video guidance by jo42 · · Score: 1


      Yeah, no kidding, my Garmin GPS showed the four corners (Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico) being about 300 meters north west, hovering over a 200 ft drop canyon while the official USGS marker had it elsewhere. Question is, which was accurate? The GPS, or the marker, where you could stand and go ooh ahh?

    17. Re:car video guidance by mdielmann · · Score: 1

      You're right about all of that. So what's the solution? How about like everywhere else we use computers - two sets of rules (computer and human) with different flags (labels vs. bar codes, dotted lines and signs vs. ? (rf, ir, rfid, something with close range recognition) and possibly a subset of options allowed for computer controlled vehicles (lanes for automated driving, maybe human-and-computer-readable signs saying that you can't use automated systems on the NJ turn-offs). As the system gets better, and more infrastructure is in place, more ways may be brought to light that will allow computers to handle all of it.

      It all comes down to, most things aren't flawless at version 1. Even the wheel has had some big changes since it's invention, and that hasn't stopped in the last decade, even though it's inventor would still recognize it. so you pick your flaws and go with version 1. I'd rather not have automation on the turnpikes than bad, especially if I had it elsewhere.

      --
      Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
    18. Re:car video guidance by spudgun · · Score: 1

      you mean those narrow winding country lanes where people drive 75-100 and come arround a blind corner and collide with your bike , probbably causing damage to those, non stressed, joints and breaking bones in between?

      --
      Type unto others as you would have them type unto you.
    19. Re:car video guidance by theLOUDroom · · Score: 1

      I bet you're a ton of fun. Everybody should live exactly the way you live right? Sheesh.

      Are you powering you computer with a bicycle generator right now? That would be better for the environment you know. You'd get more exercise too.

      Seriously though, I bet you'd love the winters up here on your bike.

      --
      Life is too short to proofread.
  2. You know it's late... by kgarcia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it also map roadkill streaks?

    1. Re:You know it's late... by griffljg · · Score: 1

      Yes, it does! ;-) It even picked up a few of our fellow motorists trying to commit suicide as well as the aftermath of a fatal crash.

  3. BFD by hazman · · Score: 5, Funny
    Short version: the cost has fallen from $1.2 million Australian to $850,000. Not bad..."

    So what. So they saved $36.83US. What's the big deal?

    1. Re:BFD by OzJimbob · · Score: 1

      http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/AUD/graph120.png

      How many $US a $AU has buying. Up up up. I think the US currency is the one that's in trouble ;)

      --
      -"I still believe in revolution; I just don't capitalize it anymore." - srini!
    2. Re:BFD by CausticWindow · · Score: 1

      I hate to reply to my own posts, but I got to confess, this is a troll.

      As much as we Americans pity the rest of the world, this still was a bit over the edge. And the Australians have it particularily bad, so you shouldn't pick on them. Shame on me.

      --
      How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
    3. Re:BFD by stor · · Score: 1

      Well I'm an Aussie and I found your joke amusing so there you go.

      Your reply is condescending though. I really can't complain too much about life in Australia. Sure we have our set of problems but your "pity" is unnecessary. We don't "have it particularly bad".

      At least in most places you can still drink the water 8)

      Cheers
      Stor

      --
      "Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
    4. Re:BFD by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      In these sad times, when companies try to save money by getting rid of plants in the office, removing the water coolers, turning down the A/C, buying cheap grade toilet paper, and switching off the 'down' escalators, saving $36.83 probably is a BFD :-)

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  4. Re:RTOS? by femto · · Score: 1

    Because the application doesn't need a real time operating system. (As proven by the fact that it works, and doesn't use a RTOS)

  5. best line by b17bmbr · · Score: 4, Funny

    It was expected that the solution would be one involving Windows and written in Visual Basic...I don't think that I would have undertaken a task like this, where a computer is on the road, using anything but a robust operating system.

    hey steve, start booking that flight!!!

    --
    My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
  6. Multiple FireWire cameras under Linux? by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm amazed they got that to work. The FireWire hot-plugging support in Linux is a mess, doesn't handle the hard cases, and needs a complete redesign. Camera support is ugly, with a wierd interface between the application and the driver.

    (I wrote FireWire camera support for QNX, and looked at the Linux code to see how to do some things. It didn't help much.)

    (Windows support for FireWire is painful in a different way. It's incredibly complex, and has far too much kernel code, to allow for DRM. And the Video for Windows retrofit for FireWire is flakey.)

    1. Re:Multiple FireWire cameras under Linux? by cduffy · · Score: 1

      I'm amazed they got that to work. The FireWire hot-plugging support in Linux is a mess, doesn't handle the hard cases, and needs a complete redesign. Camera support is ugly, with a wierd interface between the application and the driver.

      Just curious, when was this?

      I'm not heavily involved with Linux firewire, but I've been tracking it vaguely, and I understand that they've actually got a proper solution for the hotplug thing that works against 2.5 (and presumably, now, 2.6).

      Now, I'm not *using* 2.5 or newer, and haven't looked at this code myself, so I have no firsthand knowledge here... it's just something I think I recall seeing mentioned in the mailing list archives within the last few months.

    2. Re:Multiple FireWire cameras under Linux? by Talez · · Score: 1

      I'm not heavily involved with Linux firewire, but I've been tracking it vaguely, and I understand that they've actually got a proper solution for the hotplug thing that works against 2.5

      Backport it to 2.4 and I'll be impressed. Until then, for most users, the firewire support is about as useful as tits on a bull.

    3. Re:Multiple FireWire cameras under Linux? by Animats · · Score: 1

      What I wanted to do was to implement an FireWire API for QNX compatible with Linux. But the Linux API for FireWire basically lets applications store into device registers from user code; it's far too low level. It comes with a user-side library that offers a cleaner interface, and the warning that the kernel-level API may change.

  7. Penguin by olderchurch · · Score: 3, Funny

    I like the title of the pictures:
    The penguin road patrol

    --
    Disclaimer: This opinion was created without the use of any facts
  8. But where will this technology go from here? by cvk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This high-speed video capture is definitely the way to go for a first step, but of course the situation will be hugely improved when all that data can be taken back to the lab an scanned for drivability by software instead of by human brainpower.

    Perhaps when the sun is low shadows would be cast over potholes that would lead to lower temperatures inside the crater than on the surface of the road. That would make infrared cameras an obvious choice for picking out the cold-bottomed potholes.

    Or perhaps a rear vehicle could shine a light at an acute angle to the ground that would turn potholes into shadowy pits for easy detection by a forward vehicle on the other side of the pothole?

    So many possibilities. (So many challenges!)

    1. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by ColaMan · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or perhaps a accelerometer input on an axle to register potholes. Actually , a pretty good gauge of road surface (gravel size etc) could be sensed with a decent accelerometer, as long as your tyres are fairly well pumped up.

      (Car hits pothole - ka-THUNK!!!!)

      Computer : Crikey! Didja feel that!?! Stone the flamin' crows, who was the bushwhacker that built this goat-track? Strewth!!

      (Computer makes note of position for future reference.)

      That way, subtle potholes (eg small depressions in road with no sharp edges) could be picked up fairly well.

      And I hold the patent for "a method for use of Australian Slang to accurately measure and describe road defects", so no getting any ideas ;-)

      --

      You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
      There is a lot of hype here.
    2. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by EvanED · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That misses the potholes you don't run over directly with your wheels.

    3. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by BluRBD!E · · Score: 1

      You know the really sad thing? I've never met an Australian who talks like that. And I'm an Australian born and bred, last time I checked. This leads me to 2 possible conclusions. 1. The only people who talk with that retarted "Aussie" accent and disturbing slang are: a. Steve Irwin (it's also a fact he puts it on for his show...) b. American wankers who've never met an Australian, let alone spoken to one, yet are sure this is how they must sound! 2. There are no Australians in Australia. It's all a hoax. Australia does not exist, it is actually a marketing ploy designed to make certain "exports" seem exotic. PS. There's a reason Australia exports Fosters. It's because it tastes like utter shite, and no one here drinks it.

    4. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by BluRBD!E · · Score: 1

      *REPOST WITH FORMATTING*

      You know the really sad thing?

      I've never met an Australian who talks like that. And I'm an Australian born and bred, last time I checked. This leads me to 2 possible conclusions.

      1. The only people who talk with that retarted "Aussie" accent and disturbing slang are:
      a. Steve Irwin (it's also a fact he puts it on for his show...)
      b. American wankers who've never met an Australian, let alone spoken to one, yet are sure this is how they must sound!

      2. There are no Australians in Australia. It's all a hoax. Australia does not exist, it is actually a marketing ploy designed to make certain "exports" seem exotic.

      PS. There's a reason Australia exports Fosters. It's because it tastes like utter shite, and no one here drinks it.

    5. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by Placido · · Score: 1

      Think outside the box and use a steamroller. ONE BIG WHEEL! But to make it go fast enough to be viable we need a good powersource so I suggest strapping a Jet Engine to the back of the steamroller giving the kind of performance we need. Now all I need to figure out is how to make it turn sharp enough to make any corners.

      --

      Pinky: "What are we going to do tomorrow night Brain?"
      Brain: "I would tell you Pinky but this 120 char limi
    6. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by big+tex · · Score: 1

      They have those. About a dozen commercial models or so. Here's one of the big boys - the ARAN.

      They all work, in general, by measuring the relative motions between the axle, body, and road. They use some sort of rangefinder (a laser, in the case of the ARAN) to determine the distance between the pavement and the body, and an accelerometer to determine the motion of the axle.
      These things are fully automated, computers ride over the roads, chew some numbers back in the lab, and spit out a ride quality number.

      And as for the comment that this would only measure the areas in the wheelpaths - you are right. What you have failed to realize is that "ride quality" (what the machine like the aran determines, and what the parent post suggested) is a different matter entirely from "pavement condition". Now, the two are tightly linked, but not the same thing. To use a crude example, pavement condition is like checking to see if a girl's teeth are straight and ride quality is a "hotness" test.

      --
      I think I need a new sig here.
    7. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by harrkev · · Score: 1
      This high-speed video capture is definitely the way to go for a first step, but of course the situation will be hugely improved when all that data can be taken back to the lab an scanned for drivability by software instead of by human brainpower.

      Perhaps when the sun is low shadows would be cast over potholes that would lead to lower temperatures inside the crater than on the surface of the road. That would make infrared cameras an obvious choice for picking out the cold-bottomed potholes.

      Or perhaps a rear vehicle could shine a light at an acute angle to the ground that would turn potholes into shadowy pits for easy detection by a forward vehicle on the other side of the pothole?


      I actually tackled this problem a few years ago...

      See this invention for details. Leo came up with an idea for a machine which fixed the roads. A person would just get in and drive. The vehicle would scan the road under it, determine where holes were, and apply fast-cure epoxy to the holes. Behind this vehicle would be smooth road. It included a scanning section, blowers to blow out the dust/dirt/water from the holes to prepare then to receive epoxy. The concept even include little "feet" which would press the epoxy in the hole.

      I actualy implemented a lab prototype of this wile working for Sandia. It had a laser project a line on the "road" (a block of styrofoam). A pair of cameras viewed the laser (one on each side of the line). Obviously, a pothole would make the laser line NOT be straight to a camera off to the side. Some simple math would allow you to calculate the exact size and shape of the hole. I got it to accurately measure the size of holes in a block to withthin 5%. It could even fill the hole to the top with "epoxy" (OK. it was water). It was crude, but it proved the conepts.

      There were still some sticky problems to be overcome -- how do you determine where the road is supposed to be? Any vehicle would be bouncing around on shocks and rubber tires. And what if there were wheel grooves worn in the pavement -- should those be filled? And then there is the whole problem of how to apply the epoxy.

      It is a shame that nobody ever followed up on this concept. When I was working on it, I was certain that there would be vehicles doing this in 15 years or so. Now, I have my doubts. It is an incredible idea (even made it to Popular Mechanics and received an award from Discover Magazine -- look under "transportation"), but would take a lot of money and time to bring to the market.
      --
      "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
    8. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      Or perhaps they should just use a linear array of sonar or radar systems to generate a heightfield of the road. It would give more information than video. If you spent enough money on it you could also get the composition 0f the road to a certain degree, which would show you if a part of the road that had been pushed up came up because of a root or because they don't know how to properly lay a road bed.

      Sonar would be good enough, is fast enough, and is very cheap. Sonar modules are readily available and many people have a great deal of experience making them work with robotics projects. The best deal would be if you could figure out some way to combine the video information with the height field, that would really tell you everything.

      Not only will this give you detection of potholes, including those you do not run over, but you could use it to get some basic geometry of both the lane you are not in, and the road's shoulder, which could come in handy. Converting the sonar data to geometry could be done in realtime with sufficient processing power, or it could be done later from the collected data.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by mvdw · · Score: 1
      That misses the potholes you don't run over directly with your wheels.

      Well, Duh - you don't have to fix the ones you don't run over...

    10. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by EvanED · · Score: 1

      Just because you don't hit them doesn't mean others won't... Do you think everyone traverses the exact same 6 inch wide lanes with cars that are the exact same width?

      Also, it could be that minor damages in untraveled areas could spread.

    11. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by mvdw · · Score: 1

      Get the net ready Virginia, I think we've caught one!

    12. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by BluRBD!E · · Score: 1

      You might want to rethink that... Fosters is an Australian beer. I do believe it was bought out by Canada at some stage though.

    13. Re:But where will this technology go from here? by ColaMan · · Score: 1

      I know - I was playing up to the Steve Irwin wannabee's in the audience.

      But it's a fact that everyone has a distorted view of people in other places, simply because they don't live there - the only things they *do* see are the extremes, because the norms slip underneath the radar and go unnoticed.

      And if you're Australian , and I'm Australian, I'm pretty sure that Australia is not a hoax, but I'll agree with you on the Fosters remark :-)

      --

      You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
      There is a lot of hype here.
  9. Re:Map makin'? by momerath2003 · · Score: 1

    Let's map them potholes. 'nuff said.

    Heh. I thought you said, "Let's map them open ports" with Linux! Silly me staying up late at night.

    --
    I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
  10. Linux not the answer by DerekLyons · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually reading the article shows that Linux is incidental to the 'breakthrough'. The improvement comes from video processing software, not from the operating system of the computers that perform the processing.

    1. Re:Linux not the answer by pc486 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, the project manager Viner thought that the project would be based on Windows but after talking to Dr. Tim Ferguson, Viner let Ferguson base it on Linux. Viner was so impressed with the way that Linux preformed the video capture and monitoring that "The experience has made Viner a firm Linux convert. 'The office is moving over to Linux and we are looking at getting some form of network-attached storage for our clients,' he said."

      And Ferguson said it best at the end of the article: "Development using open source software means the developer is totally in charge. You can do what you like, and customise things to your own needs. There are downsides, like the problems I faced with the firewire drivers. But then you'll generally find that you are not alone in this; there will be others to contribute little bits of knowledge until the jigsaw is complete."

      So to say that Linux is "incidental" is a little bit of an understatment.

    2. Re:Linux not the answer by DerekLyons · · Score: 1
      Well, the project manager Viner thought that the project would be based on Windows but after talking to Dr. Tim Ferguson, Viner let Ferguson base it on Linux. Viner was so impressed with the way that Linux preformed the video capture and monitoring
      Problem is.., Linux isn't doing the video capture and monitoring. Linux is the OS that a custom application is running under.
      And Ferguson said it best at the end of the article: "Development using open source software means the developer is totally in charge. You can do what you like, and customise things to your own needs. There are downsides, like the problems I faced with the firewire drivers. But then you'll generally find that you are not alone in this; there will be others to contribute little bits of knowledge until the jigsaw is complete."
      That's open source software, not Linux. (There is open source for other than Linux you know.) Once again, he is discussing the custom application, not the OS.
      So to say that Linux is "incidental" is a little bit of an understatment.
      Not when you know the difference between custom application and drivers and an off-the-shelf OS.
  11. This is a newspaper article?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A newspaper article about Linux that backs up its claims with details, has not one hint of FUD.

    Soeriously now, an nwspaper article that mentions
    limitations in the firewire drivers.

    I mean the readers are expected to know what drivers, RAM, firewire, is.

    They call Linux robust and hint that windows isn't.

    There is no catch!!!

    Now this is unbelievable!!
    This must be a hoax article.

    You don't really get stories like this in the newspaper

  12. favorite comment by skydude_20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    just to make sure we all understand the proper terminology:
    the road ahead (what is technically called the pavement)

    --
    Jesus saves souls and redeems them for valuable cash prizes
    1. Re:favorite comment by kbs · · Score: 1

      well, as opposed to "cliff"

      --
      yours,
      kbs
    2. Re:favorite comment by shfted! · · Score: 1

      Wasn't The Road Ahead the title of Gates' book?

      --
      He who laughs last is stuck in a time dilation bubble.
  13. sweet advert for OSS... by cubal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And, surprisingly honest. I'm quite impressed with how honest they were about the problems they faced.

    And that's where OSS evangelism has to happen... showing that OS is better even with its problems, not that proprietary is worse and OS is perfect. Good for them :)

  14. I use linux... by seanadams.com · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... but this artice is pretty ridiculous:

    "My experience with Windows is limited. I have been a Linux user since 1993 and I have considerable experience in programming in that environment," Ferguson said. "In any case, I don't think that I would have undertaken a task like this, where a computer is on the road, using anything but a robust operating system."

    I mean, is it *really* that much harder to grab some video in Windows vs Linux? Having never programmed in Windows, perhaps someone can enlighten me, but I would expect that software like this is 99% image processing, and the choice of OS makes little or no difference. I can understand, all thing being equal, using the OS you're more comfortable with... but jesus they make it sound like Linux saved the day here, when that's their only argument.

    We always make fun of the retarded M$-funded cost-of-ownership studies. How about posting some stories that show the REAL benefit of OSS in everyday applications?

    1. Re:I use linux... by OzJimbob · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's not their only argument. As was highlighted further along in the article, putting this system together on Windows would have meant purchasing expensive proprietary softare. In Linux: this wasn't necessary. Hence, the $400,000 saving. Cost savings are potentially more important than any "advantage" either OS might have had in terms of performance or stability.

      --
      -"I still believe in revolution; I just don't capitalize it anymore." - srini!
    2. Re:I use linux... by tftp · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Generally speaking, *anything* in Windows costs you 10x more LOCs. For example, in Linux a simple concat() call does the job. In Windows you have to use CreateFile() with about 10 parameters, and some of those parameters are mind-boggling structures (like SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES) that must be created and initialized using separate API calls.

      So indeed, in Windows you pay for layer upon layer upon layer of cruft. Once you are done, it works - but it takes a rocket scientist to get there.

      With regard to video capture, in Linux you can do this:
      $ cat videodata.raw
      and it will give you some sort of raw video frames that you can easily process later. In Windows you first need to learn about 10 layers of software, each totally different, that allow you (in theory) to access the device. DirectX would be your first stop.

    3. Re:I use linux... by tftp · · Score: 1

      I just wonder why I typed open() and it became concat() after preview... either Slashcode or the latest Firebird are to be blamed.

    4. Re:I use linux... by usotsuki · · Score: 1

      I can't use my WinTV Go! in Win98SE, at all...but it worked out of the box in Red Hat 8.0 Linux.

      So for me, yeah, it's easier to grab video with Linux. ;)

      -uso.

      --
      Dreams, dreams, don't doubt dreams, dreaming children's dreaming dreams. Sailor Moon SS
    5. Re:I use linux... by edwdig · · Score: 3, Interesting

      > I mean, is it *really* that much harder to grab some video in Windows vs Linux?

      Although I've never tried video programming in Windows, I did try it in Linux. I ended up giving up fairly quickly, because although the individual V4L API calls are documented, there is no documentation stating which calls are necessary to get something to happen, or in what order you have to call the different functions. Getting something working involves a lot of trial and error. So I'm sure for video purposes, Windows would be easier to code.

      Anyway, that completely misses the point of the line you quoted. The author chose Linux because he wanted an OS that wouldn't crash, not one that was easy to program for. If OS #1 provides an easy to use but crash prone API, and OS #2 provides a harder to use but stable API, #2 is the better choice.

      Oh, and from my personal experience on lots of systems, Windows NT/2000/XP are terribly unstable when doing video capture. Both with consumer and professional grade capture devices.

    6. Re:I use linux... by seanadams.com · · Score: 1

      No, they said that they rolled their own software in lieu of using a commercially available solution - that's all they said. If anything, this further undermines their argument in that their predetermined choice of OS simply ruled out readily available softwar0e (irrespective of cost).

      I LOVE OSS, BUT THIS ARTICLE IS TRIPE.

    7. Re:I use linux... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Listen, I'm a "Linux Freak" too, but the $400,000 savings has NOTHING to do with Linux vs. Windows. It's not like they evaluated Windows and chose Linux for the $400,000 savings. The $400,000 savings is from converting from a manual system to a Linux-based automated system.

      Now, I have no doubt that they would have saved a great deal of money with this solution over a Windows based solution, but please. Don't try and take credit for things that you have no business taking credit for. :p

    8. Re:I use linux... by seanadams.com · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the "Troll" mod, guys. Yes, let's all suppress objective discourse to make room for the WHEE LINUX posts.

    9. Re:I use linux... by Erwin-42 · · Score: 1
      I can tell you the reason. You are using Privoxy or some other filtering web proxy that kills window-opening Javascript -- and does it by renaming open to concat in what it *thinks* is JS.

      Exactly the same thing drove me COMPLETELY NUTS some months ago as I was downloading some Python code with "open" in it which magically turned into "concat".

      If it is privoxy you are using, you can turn it off in /etc/privoxy/default.filter -- just search for concat.

    10. Re:I use linux... by JKR · · Score: 3, Informative
      In Windows you have to use CreateFile() with about 10 parameters, and some of those parameters are mind-boggling structures (like SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES) that must be created and initialized using separate API calls.

      Or you can just leave those parameters as NULL, in which case (e.g. SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES) the call inherits the setting from the current process, just like it says in the MSDN. You do read the MSDN, right?

      DirectX would be your first stop.

      And your last stop, because RIGHT THERE IN THE DX8.1 SDK is code to do what you want:

      • samples\Multimedia\DirectShow\Capture\AMCap
      • sam ples\Multimedia\DirectShow\Capture\DVApp
      • samples\ Multimedia\DirectShow\Capture\PlayCap

      It took me about half a day to take this code and write a video capture app which we could hook into our FPGA dev board to demonstrate our product.

      Yes, the Windows APIs are bigger and scarier than the equivalent UNIX APIs (where equivalents exist). The wealth of examples and development communities more than makes up for this, IMO.

      Jon.

    11. Re:I use linux... by BigBir3d · · Score: 1

      And what, someone with more Windows knowledge couldn't have written the same thing for win2k? Whatever. It is possible to have OSS run on Windows. The method used was biased by the guy providing the solution. He knew Linux, not Windows. Also note the commments regarding hardware (specifically the Athlon XP).

    12. Re:I use linux... by Fishbone · · Score: 1

      I'd just like to say that, in my experience, Windows 2000/XP is anything but unstable when used for video capture. It really depends on the capture hardware and it's specific driver. Using a ViewCast Osprey 500 in each of four discrete machines running 2000, the company I work for captures many hundreds of gigabytes worth of MPEG2 data per day.

      However, I can't stress it enough that if you have bad hardware/drivers to begin with, you're not going to have a good experience. We were running some MPEGator cards on NT4 before moving to the Ospreys (DarimVision was promising that those cards would have Win2k drivers before too long--a promise they never kept). Using these cards, we had handfuls of problems--mostly stemming from the fact that the drivers were poorly written. Also, Windows NT 4.0 was never meant to be a "multimedia OS" with extensive vidcap capability.

    13. Re:I use linux... by DerekLyons · · Score: 1
      As was highlighted further along in the article, putting this system together on Windows would have meant purchasing expensive proprietary softare.
      No such thing is stated anywhere in the article.
  15. Re:Go figure by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Yeah, who would have thought that you could do something like this faster and cheaper with Linux. Perhaps NASA should take a lesson from Linux (e.g. it can be done faster, cheaper, and more reliably). ;)
    Except that... It's faster, better, and cheaper because of improved video processing software. The operating system is incidental at best if not irelevant.
  16. Unfortuante name choice... by drayzel · · Score: 3, Funny


    "...LINServo to capture and rate the video footage and PMSVideo for clients to look at the finished footage..."

    I have 6 sisters, PMSVideo is not something I'd like to see. It sounds like a really horrible fetish video.

    But then again after reading other details...

    "...so far generated about 1.3 terabytes of video footage..."
    "...Due to limitations of the Linux firewire drivers, only 896 meg of RAM gets used..."
    "...we took out the air-conditioner and added a second alternator..." YIKES!

    I can maybe see why it was named as such!

    ~Z

    1. Re:Unfortuante name choice... by JWSmythe · · Score: 1

      I still don't understand the second alternator thing. In an ambulance type of vehicle, they have lots of room. Why didn't they mount a generator externally, and have 110/220v and still be able to keep their air conditioning, without putting an extra load and dependance on the vehicles electrical system? People with RV's do it all the time. A generator can pull from the regular fuel tank, and run for quite a while (like a *LONG* time on a 20+ gallon tank). A friend had an RV, and they'd run the generator for days to power the roof mounted air conditioning, TV, refrigerator, etc, etc, etc..

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  17. Re:RTOS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    In NSW would they be using RTA-OS ? (for non-Aussies, RTA is the Roads and Traffic Authority)

  18. MILLENIUM train by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Full day drive away in Sydney, we're suffering through the MILLENIUM train fiasco, technology supplied by, no surprise, a Microsoft Operating system.

    aarrh!

  19. Won't Make Much Difference... by Victa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    VicRoads recently resurfaced the main road near my house... After 4 weeks working on a 400m (1/4 mile) stretch of road they went away. Leaving a worse surface than they had started with...

    It's fairly typical of VicRoads to resurface perfectly good roads regularly (every 6-12 months) and the roads that are actually in bad shape get ignored, or made worse... I guess it must have something to do with where the money lives...

    1. Re:Won't Make Much Difference... by Snoopy77 · · Score: 1

      Where I live here in NSW, two months before each state election the same stretch of road (The Esplanade, Warners Bay) get's resurfaced. It's on a fairly major route but doesn't effect traffic too much when the road works are going on. Something smells fishy but I can't quite firgure it out.

      --
      "She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
    2. Re:Won't Make Much Difference... by Snoopy77 · · Score: 1

      Hey, it's not my RTA, I'm a Victorian living too far from home.

      But yes, you rattle down the Hume until the Murray River and then it is bliss. I think the sky is even bluer in VIC.

      --
      "She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
    3. Re:Won't Make Much Difference... by angle_mark · · Score: 1

      Yup ur right about that! Hey but Albury's going to get a nice big freeway cutting through it in the next few years huh? That should be nice and smooth :-)

  20. Re:Map makin'? by dattaway · · Score: 2, Funny

    The problem with mapping potholes is that they are always in development. Patches often are applied, but they brake things. Sound familiar?

  21. What idiot moderator.. by Tediak · · Score: 1

    Mods this as a troll?

  22. Re:RTOS? by Snoopy77 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why aren't they using a RTOS?

    Cause they don't need one. The shutters are triggered every metre (or 20 metres) and it works just fine.

    Forgive me for asking such a silly question but did you actually read the article?

    --
    "She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
  23. PMS? by poptones · · Score: 2, Funny
    Pavement Management System? Penguin Movie System?

    What an unfortunate acronym. Maybe when they get an editor put together they can call it STD Edit.

    1. Re:PMS? by Powercntrl · · Score: 1

      Maybe when they get an editor put together they can call it STD Edit.

      There's already a video editor called VD.

      --

      ---
      DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
  24. And you foreigners wonder ... by OzPeter · · Score: 1

    Why we like to live in Oz :-)

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    1. Re:And you foreigners wonder ... by cranos · · Score: 1

      Yup we love to live here, its the guys in charge that have us worried though.

  25. pity that they dont actually fix the roads by narkotix · · Score: 3, Interesting
    have a look at this interesting article

    --
    We played dungeons and dragons for 3 hours.....then i was slain by an elf
    1. Re:pity that they dont actually fix the roads by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      I can tell you that Caltrans in California, USA is guilty of the same horseshit. I drive a well-handling sports car, and when going over Hwy 175 (Hopland Grade, at this point) I can tell you that nearly every turn is mislabeled. Over time I have driven that road in a '89 240SX, an '85 Thunderbird, a '63 Chevy T-10 truck, and a Mercury Tracer five door (Mazda 323 with more headroom.)

      Basically, about half the turns that are not labeled should be, and half the turns that are labeled don't need to be. Okay, maybe only a quarter are spuriously labeled. What really gets my goat is the next to last turn before coming down into the flat land amongst houses in Lakeport. The last turn is a broad sweeper, no big deal there. The next to next to last turn is posted about 10mph slower than I felt safe taking the thunderbird (which was totally stock, on cheap tires, and pretty heavy, and also FWD) through without being uppity. I believe the turn is posted 35mph (the limit on the road is 55.) The turn I'm talking about though, the one right AFTER the one posted 35 which is better at 45, is not posted at all, and is DEFINITELY a 35mph turn. If you botch it, you will hit a guardrail, and then likely be bounced/slid into the ditch on the other side of the road, which is rocky. And hopefully no one will pass through the space you are misusing thanks to caltrans' incompetence.

      Caltrans has a serious case of cranial-rectal inversion. Generally speaking they work in a completely reactive mode. "Oh, someone died there? We'll do a several-thousand-dollar study and at the end we'll rough up the road surface causing it to hold water, and we'll put up a sign about how the road might be slippery when wet." About the only thing they really do is clear landslides rapidly, which must be because a lot of people with money live in the hills.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  26. This has nothing to do with Linux ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...and everything to do with using a computer to replace a manual process. The OS (Linux, Windows, or other) has little to do with the success of the project. If, for example, Windows 2000 had been used rather than Linux the sub-heading would have been "short version: the cost has fallen from $1.2 million Australian to $849,800". Yawn.

  27. moronic statement by Alien+Being · · Score: 3, Funny

    "In any case, I don't think that I would have undertaken a task like this, where a computer is on the road, using anything but a robust operating system."

    I realize that MSWindows has a zillion bugs, but I never knew that its bits could shake loose from going over bumps.

    1. Re:moronic statement by autechre · · Score: 1

      That's not how I interpret that statement. When NASA builds equipment to go into space, they use 386/486 CPUs because they absolutely know how they work and how to keep them reliable. You don't want to have to fix something in space.

      This is to a lesser degree, of course, but having to stop their survey and wait for a "tech guy" to drive out and fix the computer would be a real pain. Having to stop the survey because the OS needs to be rebooted would be a lesser pain, but still a pain. And when did the computer crash? Which parts of the road do you have to re-cover? Was the data leading up to the crash reliable?

      --
      WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
  28. Re:Go figure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the article:
    "My experience with Windows is limited."

    Were it not so, he would be able to join the rest of us in saying:
    "My experience with Windows is limiting."

  29. scary experience... by canning · · Score: 4, Funny

    "It was a scary experience when we got to the South Australian border and had a power supply in the PC fail," said Arya.

    Sounthern Australia border?? I would assume that all that water wouldn't be good for them either.

    --
    I love the smell of Karma in the morning
    1. Re:scary experience... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The state to the left of Victoria is called South Australia. That is the border being referred to there.

    2. Re:scary experience... by aspeer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yep, We are really original here. Once Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Tasmania were named it must of been pretty close to beer o'clock. You can imagine the conversation:

      Pioneer 1: So, we have two states left, one in the South and one in the West. Ideas ?

      Pioneer 2: South Australia and Western Australia - now for *^%* sake lets hit the pub.

      Pioneer 1: I like it. Lets go.

    3. Re:scary experience... by HarryCallahan · · Score: 1

      I had to think about this for 2 minutes before realising it wasn't just a lame joke about South Australia tap water.

    4. Re:scary experience... by MrCreosote · · Score: 1

      Actually - its a scary experience just crossing the South Australian border.

      Dont forget to wind your watch back 10 years

      --
      MrCreosote Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump! "You're right! There isn't enough room to swing a cat in here!"
    5. Re:scary experience... by fastdecade · · Score: 1

      Pioneer 2: We forgot to name the big patch of desert up north.

      Pioneer 1: Erm...how about North Australia?

      Pioneer 2: No, we only reserve creative names for states. It's not a state.

      Pioneer 1: Okay, anyway it's beer o'clock now. I'm sure we'll think of a fitting name later on.

  30. My TV set by poptones · · Score: 1
    Is my Win2K PC. The one thing keeping me from moving it to linux is the lack of a quality video solution like DScaler.

    I've done hundreds of hours of video capture in Win2K with nary a glitch. Bad hard drives will screw things up, but that's a bandwidth and timing issue, not an OS issue. Hell, I used to run a capture every single night (Voyager) and surf the net at the same time - running win2k on a 450MHz PII machine.

  31. Re: Linux Hits the Road by BladeMelbourne · · Score: 1
    Hit the road Tux, and don't you come back no more no more no more no more, hit the road Tux, and don't you come back no more...

    Sorry, couldn't resist. I wonder if yearly vehicle registration fees will decrease now? VicRoads charge ~$440 for a light vehicle, and ~500 for a medium vehicle. That's more than one weeks wage for many people.

    Maybe if VicRoads switched all their systems and PCs to Linux; vehicle ownership would not be out of reach for so many. I should send them a Tux t-shirt with my next payment.

    BladeMelbourne

  32. And they can keep them... by Spittles · · Score: 3, Funny

    Linux mapping out our roads... SCO can probably lay claim to the speed-humps.

  33. I can back this up.. by slackingme · · Score: 3, Funny
    I'm actually one of the guys operating these things (and that suggested Linux in the first place.) It's awesome to see Linux keeping up with its "cheaper, faster, and better" attitude.

    We're so impressed with Linux, we're running one rig at >110 with 2.6.0-test3. We'll save hundreds of thousands of dollars more. It even has 802.11g, as I'm typing this ri--*eerrrrrrrrrr* *sqqqqqueeeeeellll* *BOOM*

    *BANG*

    *CRASH*

  34. Re:A "bumpy" problem. by JWSmythe · · Score: 1


    Like, take one of those depth-finder/fish-finder boxes, and watch for deviation.. Sounds like a good plan. If the road goes higher or lower, log it.

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  35. CSIRO did it first... by quinkin · · Score: 4, Informative
    The CSIRO system that I assume this is built on top of/based upon has been receiving awards since 1998.

    See here for details.

    Q.

    --
    Insert Signature Here
  36. Re:Map makin'? by serial+frame · · Score: 1

    I hate to reply to my own post, but I don't see why using this technology is not relevant to doing something such as, say, mapping those potholes. Why the offtopic moderation?

    As a sibling post says, yeah, the map will not be accurate for more than two days, but hey. The map could be generated by the city yearly, perhaps to help manage funds for city works such as repairing the damned potholes.

    I could probably do an hours worth of digressing here, but, bleh.

    --

    -
    And the Angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots! The cries of the carrots!"
  37. They have this... by Cyno01 · · Score: 1

    I cant remember what company, but some luxury manufacturer (caddy?) has a very new system that does this to a degree, i dont rememebr if it notices your drifting and just alerts you or corrects itself. Anyone have any more information on this, its late/early, i cant rememebr any specifics.Ok, its BMW, 8th paragraph.

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  38. Re:Go figure by Zemran · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Except that... It's faster, better, and cheaper because of improved video processing software. The operating system is incidental at best if not irelevant.

    Are you saying that the OS has no effect on the cost at all?

    --
    I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
  39. A pity, though by NaveWeiss · · Score: 3, Interesting

    that searching their site for "linux" results in nothing.

    --
    Slashdot community, please notice: I am looking for a girlfriend.
    Nave H. Weiss
  40. Server slashdotted by stevenp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot does regular surveys of the WEB servers in Victoria, Australia and other places, to determine where they need to be patched or otherwise repaired. The method (slashdotting) is simple and reliable and is also known as "brute force", DDOS and "who has more bandwith, you or we?".

    1. Re:Server slashdotted by Sri+Lumpa · · Score: 1


      And all that thanks to cheap labour using /. addicted workers.

      Some are so addicted that they pay to do their work early.

      --
      "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
  41. I don't usually respond to anonymous cowards but.. by donscarletti · · Score: 3, Interesting
    right after he admits having no knowledge of Windows systems. WTF?

    He said he had limited, experiance, not no experience. And with bill gates confession that five percent of windows systems crash more than twice a day the chances of him knowing all two well the habit that MS systems have of failing

    and don't tell me that KDE never crashes

    Why would a survey device with the job of simply recording data use KDE, or for that matter GNOME, or even X? Somehow I seriously doubt that KDE's crashing effects this thing in the slightest.

    Back in the days when I used KDE I saw it crash a number of times (not as frequently as most MS user interfaces I have used), but even if they were running KDE they cirtainly woudn't be stupid enough to have the data monitoring program running on top of it, and so therefore the mission critical application would continue to run perfectly. This is not as much of an option for windows setups when a UI failure or a falure of a non-essential subsystem can take down the entire system.

    --
    When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
  42. Linux Saves the Day by awebus · · Score: 2, Funny

    The revolutionary new pavement defect detecting system has also made waves with its bold choice of transportation. Pavement management services were originally going to use a 1997 Mitsubishi Pajero, however after consulting with the team's driver James Smith, they decided to go with an older model Holden Jackaroo.

    "My experience with Mitsubishis is limited. I have been a Holden driver since 1993 and I have considerable experience driving their vehicles," Smith said. "In any case, I don't think that I would have undertaken a task like this, where a car is on the road, using anything but a familiar vehicle."

  43. actually by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    it was on Quantum around 1988.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  44. The state next door did this already... by B747SP · · Score: 4, Informative
    The Australian CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Org.) got together with the NSW RTA (New South Wales (the state just north of Victoria, where this story's system came from) Roads and Traffic Authority) already hopped into bed together to come up with what sounds like, by all accounts, a technically better system...

    The CSIRO's RoadCrack system is designed to find cracks in the pavement as small as 1mm wide, at 'highway speeds' of up to 105Km/h (65Mph).

    The link doesn't say when this one was built, but it won awards in 1999, and was 'upgraded' in 2001.

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    I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
  45. What's kph? by hysma · · Score: 1

    Am I the first to notice there is no such thing as kph? In metric we use km/h which better describes the measurement. -T

    1. Re:What's kph? by swordgeek · · Score: 1

      YES YES YES!!!

      I saw the article, and was going to make the same point. I am SICK of people not comprehending that kph is a non-measure, and nothing more than a carry-over of a mistake (mph).

      Of course these are the same people who confuse metre and meter.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
    2. Re:What's kph? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      Not only are you the first, but you're one of two who cares. What's the difference? km/h says (if I'm reading it right) kilometers in an hour. Mathematically it looks like an attempt to divide units of distance with units of time.

      Meanwhile kilometers per hour says exactly the same thing. Kilometers (check) (implied: traversed) per hour (check). Kilometers and hours, what more do you want? I think you're being overly nitpicky even for slashdot.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:What's kph? by hysma · · Score: 1
      kph would imply karots per hour, referring to the purity of gold.

      Possibly if it were Kph, we'd be taking about Kalvin per hour, which must be a rate of temperature change?

      Or maybe we're talking about Potassiums per hour?

      Surely not kilometres per hour, since the abbreviation for kilometre is km, and following the metric guidelines (which are simlar to those of Physics and Chemistry), would yeild km/h which describes you are referring to the distance travelled during a specific time unit, in this case hours.

      How would you write kilometres per day? kpd? I don't think we're referring to the Kivalliq Partners in Development. Let's try km/day.

  46. Slow, tedious, and hazardous website??? by Znonymous+Coward · · Score: 1

    Aparently, their website still moves at 20 kph

    --

    Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.

  47. In other news... by borgdows · · Score: 1

    SCO has just published a press release :

    "[...]SCO will be offering a Linux license for mobile systems at the price of $699 for a single CPU system who are moving below 20mph and +49$ by additionnal mph.[...]"

  48. To be fair... by LemonYellow · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...you do have the choice to use either the CRT's open() function or Windows' OpenFile/CreateFile API calls; You don't have to use the more complicated one if you don't want the extra features. Most of the nastier parameters to CreateFile, such as that infrequently-used SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure, can be passed NULL to get default behaviour, so you don't have to set up the ACL on the file by hand if you don't want to.

    I'm afraid it's the old rule coming into play here; Some complicated tasks require complicated APIs. On the other hand, MS could have stuck with *nix's user/group/everybody permissions and never required a CreateFile API. I'm sure the merits of ACLs are a bone of contention in some places.

  49. Re:I don't usually respond to zealots but.. by Talez · · Score: 1

    And with bill gates confession that five percent of windows systems crash more than twice a day the chances of him knowing all two well the habit that MS systems have of failing

    5% of systems is nothing in the scheme of things. It's easy to put that down to the morons out there that simply run the spyware that comes down to Kazaa.

    Why would a survey device with the job of simply recording data use KDE, or for that matter GNOME, or even X? Somehow I seriously doubt that KDE's crashing effects this thing in the slightest.

    Then why are you using data submitted by computers loaded up with crap by ordinary joes to justify your position on windows stability. If I ran nothing more than a video capture application I'm sure I could get more uptime than 12 hours. Hell, even with all the gaming I do on my Windows XP box I still get uptimes of 1 week and upwards. My roommate runs a whole load of services on his XP box and he gets uptimes of 2 weeks and upwards.

    But I'm not a mean guy. I'll make you a deal. If you bring your mindset into the 21st century I'll treat you like a human being instead of some mindless zealot.

  50. Re:BFD? by modme2 · · Score: 1
    yeah must be rough living here in Australia

    an economy in the top 10 in the world (and standard of living to match) with a population of only 20 million

    a free market but with strong enough social policies that -EVERYONE- can afford the best health care and education we offer

    a relatively unpolluted environment indeed pristine in many locations

    about 3 handgun deaths per year

    all the sheep we could possibly ever shag next door in NZ

    so what were you saying?

  51. Re:Go figure by DarkKnightRadick · · Score: 1

    are you insane? It's CHEAPER just because of the OS. The improved video processing software is responsible for the faster and better.

    --
    "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
  52. Re:Go figure by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Also... it was chosen because of familiarity, not because of any features or cost comparison (You cannot call saying "Linux is free!" a cost comparison.) The author-to-be of the software said "I don't know shit about windows programming, but I've done a lot of work with Linux. Let's use that!"

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  53. Re:Go figure by Igmuth · · Score: 1

    Umm actually the use of Linux had next to NOTHING to do with the AU$350,000 savings. I would think it would be more to the fact that they added automation to a entirely manual task.

    Yes Linux may have been cheaper than say, Windows, but not $350,000 cheaper.

  54. To moderators: This is not a troll, it is the trut by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
    h. please, RTFM before moderating.

    Incidentally, Australian roads already suck, from what I hear all over this story. So even if they find the potholes (potholes, unlike cracks, are easy to find) they probably won't fix them, or they'll go make some more to preserve the conservation of potholes.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  55. Re:Go figure by DarkKnightRadick · · Score: 1

    You're funny.

    Linux == Free
    Windows == at the least ~$200

    How do you automate driving down a road looking for a pothole?

    --
    "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
  56. And now for the American Version by sinjayde · · Score: 1

    An anonymous reader writes "Vicroads does regular surveys of the roads in Victoria, Australia, to determine where they need to be patched or otherwise repaired. It used to be done in a vehicle travelling at 12 mph: slow, tedious, and hazardous to the traffic around it. Now, thanks to Linux, it's being done at speeds of 50 to 60 mph. The Melbourne Age has the details. Short version: the cost has fallen from $800,000 USD to $560,000. Not bad...

  57. Re:Go figure by DerekLyons · · Score: 1
    Are you saying that the OS has no effect on the cost at all?
    When a project is as hardware intensive as this one is, OS costs start to drop as a percentage of the total costs.

    Also, the article distinctly points to the custom software being the cause of increased performance. It was developed under Linux, because that's what the developer knew, not because of cost-benifit analysis.
  58. Re:RTOS? by shfted! · · Score: 1

    Forgive me for asking such a silly question but did you actually read the article?

    You're new here, aren't you? In fact, you're so new you didn't know I would post this witless comment.

    --
    He who laughs last is stuck in a time dilation bubble.
  59. Re:I've always wondered... by gibodean · · Score: 1

    Why not Southern Australia and Western Australia?

    Well, Western Australia takes up the entire Western part of Australia. The border is a straight line going North/South. But, South Australia is just a bit on the Southern coast of the mainland, and isn't the entirety of the southern most part of Australia. In fact, it doesn't even contain the most Southerly part of Australia. Tamania is more Southerly, and so are parts of Victoria and Western Australia.

  60. Re:A "bumpy" problem. by griffljg · · Score: 1

    If you take a look at the pictures linked to the article, you will see one of the vehicle in full survey mode. The long "bar" in place of the bumper at the front of the vehicle contains 15 lasers, 2 accelerometers and 2 optical gyros. The readings from these instruments are fed into yet another computer inside the vehicle for storage and analysis. This computer is running MSDOS. ;-)