Posted by
michael
on from the you'll-put-your-eye-out dept.
freitasm writes "Geekzone is reporting on Ike, made by Surveylab. Ike is a handheld data capture device that integrates GPS, an electronic compass, a laser distance meter, an inclinometer, a digital camera, and a Pocket PC 2003 handheld in a single unit, ideal for GIS and other surveys."
I'm in engineering physics (lasers and other stuff to those who don't know), and graduates always pull pranks on a certain day, very ceremonial blah blah blah. Anyway, I tried to convince them that we should get an aquarium of fish with lasers attached and put it in the office window or something. But would they go for it? No. Bastards and their "feasibility".
Is that a Pocket PC, GPS and Laser Range Finder...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 4, Funny
...in your pocket or are you just happy to see the hole you're burning into my retina.
I like it...
by
59Bassman
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm not sure what I'd do with it personally, but the concept is cool.
I can see this being used by lots of folks probably not in the original target market: professional hunting guides. All in one unit rangefinder/gps/camera? Make it durable and I bet the hunting crowd would be all over them.
I believe it was George Carlin who said that only in America could you stick any two things together and someone would buy it.
-- If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
Yay! The tricorder is just around the corner
by
Uncle+Op
·
· Score: 2, Funny
This is cool. A great toy that will let everyone put up 3D models of their houses so they can offer virtual tours on the web. Or put out for bids on landscaping or renovations.
I love toys...
Could be useful to golfers
by
The+I+Shing
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I've been asked by golfers if there's a device that will let them measure the exact distance to the pin (or at least the green).
I've always been at a loss to tell them what they could use, at least when it came to handheld optical devices.
-- You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Re:Could be useful to golfers
by
bugnuts
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
There are several devices for this, from the $20 monocular to a $300 laser rangefinder.
The $20 version simply has markings, similar to a rifle scope, where the user simply matches the height of the pin to the markings and reads the result. The farther away, the smaller the pin.
A $20 version that uses no batteries is often far better suited for most golfers, imho. The only time it's not as useful is when the pin is missing or non-standard size.
Re:Could be useful to golfers
by
CrankyFool
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· Score: 3, Informative
Hand-held optical devices that measure distance have been around for a while -- I have the Bushnell Yardage Pro 500 which lets me get a distance reading up to about 1000 yds. Hell, Bushnell makes range finders specifically for golfers.
The only problem with these that I've found is that you need some decent flat surface perpendicular to the laser to reflect it -- so trying to laze, say, a building works pretty well, but trying to laze the flag on the green would be problematic (and I've had issues trying to laze some mammals and such at longer distances when trying to set my sights).
Re:Could be useful to golfers
by
Jaywalk
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· Score: 2, Informative
There are several devices for this, from the $20 monocular to a $300 laser rangefinder.
Yeah, but this thing checks the incline as well. It's a lot different hitting to a green that's a few feet above you to one that's a few feet below. On the down side, the site says the range of the laser is only 100 meters, so its current form would be pretty useless for golf.
-- ===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
Re:Could be useful to golfers
by
mr_lithic
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· Score: 2, Informative
Best thing for golfers these days is the incredibly expensive (but nice) Suunto G9. Roughly 800 bucks for a watch . . hem hem sorry - Wristop Computer.
Uses GPS to work out where you are and then calculates how far you are hitting the ball. Supposely there are a number of popular golf courses available for download so you can tell hole distance etc.
Must make sense for people who play this silly game. .
Ike is a handheld data capture device that integrates GPS, an electronic compass, a laser distance meter, an inclinometer, a digital camera, and a Pocket PC 2003 handheld in a single unit, ideal for GIS and other surveys."
Still, it's missing a wasabi dispenser.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
GPS not accurate enough
by
plcurechax
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· Score: 5, Informative
GPS, Differential GPS, and WAAS isn't accurate enough for high quality survey work. All of these of limited accuracy of more 1 meter, whereas any decent survey should measure error hopefully less than 10 millimeters.
Re:GPS not accurate enough
by
addie
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· Score: 4, Informative
Perhaps for engineering survey work, but for geological mapping, this tool would be a god-send. 1 meter accuracy is more than enough to get a general idea of the lay of a formation. A notebook would still be necessary to take down strike/dip measurements, but those could then be easily correlated to the GIS info back at the camp. The digital camera could also be useful for keeping track of variations in color, consolidation, weathering features, etc on samples in a formation.
Re:GPS not accurate enough
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Informative
any decent survey should measure error hopefully less than 10 millimeters.
Wow, that's really an uninformed statement.
There are plenty of apps where low-res is appropriate.
In my line (wildlife biology/gis), it is rare to require anything higher than 1 m resolution. And really, the datasets we use most commonly are 28.5 m res.
Re:GPS not accurate enough
by
TigerNut
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Carrier-phase differential GPS and a low-multipath environment will get you centimeter-level accuracy. WAAS and SA being turned off help speed up the acquisition process but that's about all; the fundamental resolution achievable by GPS receivers (when used to measure carrier phase) is limited by the clock accuracy (satellite and receiver) and close-in multipath. For more information on GPS technology check out
GPS equipment manufacturer FAQs
--
Less is more.
Re:GPS not accurate enough
by
MillerAH
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· Score: 2, Insightful
GPS, Differential GPS, and WAAS isn't accurate enough for high quality survey work. All of these of limited accuracy of more 1 meter, whereas any decent survey should measure error hopefully less than 10 millimeters.
Wrong, each of these technologies is sufficiently accurate for surveying. GPS alone has (can have) an error rate of less than 2cm over 50 miles. You just have to have a known point. Everything can be calculated in real time or post processed. Most systems like this (certified for surveying) are well into the $20ks, unfortunately.
Good Resouce: http://www.icivilengineer.com/Surveying/GPS/
P.S. It can take up to 5 minutes to get a single point, even in the clear. If your under even a moderate tree cover, you're screwed with GPS.
I'll buy one myself
by
Jotaigna
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· Score: 2, Funny
when they manage to shrink them to the size of Derek Zoolander's Mobile Phone.
-- "The quality of life is inversely proportional to the number of keys on your keyring."
I hope Nokia didn't help them with the Bluetooth code.
Too much real-world value
by
RobertB-DC
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I'm afraid this gadget has too much real-world application to be of interest to the geek crowd.
We just bought a few acres of land, and this device would have been the ideal tool for the surveyor. It's clear from the discrepancies between the survey drawing and the aerial views that the surveyor made his measurements, wrote them down, then made his drawing from his notes. The numbers are right, but the outlines of the buildings aren't quite where they should be.
This device, plus a windoze PC with appropriate software, will let the surveyor simply walk to the survey points, point & shoot, hotsync, and print. It's just what the surveyor needs to do his/her job.
So it's obviously too useful to be a geek toy.
-- Stressed? Me?
Of course not.
Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
So now I will be able to find exactly where I want to hike up the mountain, be able to know which way I am going, know exactly how far I am from the top, tell how close to verticle I am approaching, take photos as I approach the summit and then have company that will understand me when I trip and crash and go tumbling down said mountain.
-- Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
-Martin Luther
sounds like something made by swiss army. all it needs now is a magnifying glass and a toothpick. on a serious note, the perfect addition to the features on this would be cell phone. and wifi. i decided i'm going to wait out on getting a new cell phone until it does absolutely everything i want (no, not need - want).
I never found my PocketPC all that great for usage w/the GPS (I am using PocketPC 2002 though). I have constant stability issues and in the extreme temps we experience here (it got down to -22 without windchill in January) the PocketPCs just don't hold up well enough.
This sounds like a civilian version of the GPS/lidar/etc/binoculars recently used by the military for spotting targets for artillery and other attack missions.
Look at the target, center the crosshairs, read the *target's* GPS co-ordinates (or dump them into the battle net).
-- Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Its not new
by
fozzylyon
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· Score: 2, Informative
It sounds like the old P40ES system that county and state surveyors have been using for over a decade. A co-worker was even involved in the P40's developement and said that it was a simple task of relaying the opt signal to the three receivers (compass, inclinometer, ld meter). The only NEW developement I see here is the "digitality" of the compass and the addition of the digital camera. Besides that though, I doubt that its worth the retraining of a personnel who are adept at working with the previous equipment. If there had been a need for this device, SURE. But our tax dollars shouldn't be spent on the latest and greatest if it isn't an improvement.
Real neat but expensive!
by
JGski
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· Score: 4, Informative
$12K a pop! That won't be on my Christmas list for a while. I'm sure people will whip up an open-source clone project. Interestingly this a lot like something I "invented" as a teen (on paper anyway, I still have the drawings in my garage)! I won't give away my age, except to say that was more than one patent life ago.:-)
BTW, the secret to finding prices on a web site for products that "don't list price" is to check the press releases - reporters tend to ignore press leads that don't have an estimated price. It would not look good with readers to present rave article for a product none of them can afford or budget for.
Re:Real neat but expensive!
by
Hartree
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· Score: 3, Informative
I think that's NZ dollars, so it's about $8400 US. Still pretty pricey.
Thanks for giving this neat gadget for Christmas. I thought I'd send you this email from it to let you know how it's working out. As you can tell from the coordinates, I'm backpacking in the Alaskan wilderness. It's great here. Just me and nature. I've never done any camping this ambitious, but with this toy how can I go wrong? Here's some pictures. Isn't it beautiful? Oh look! There's a bear and some cubs a couple hundred yards away. Here's some pictures. Hold on, I'll let you know exactly how far away with the laser rangefinder. The big one is precisely 220.6 meters away. This is so cool! Oh now it moving. Now it's 190.2 meters away. Make that 153.6 meters. It's hard to beleive something that big could move so fast. 98 meters now. Hmmmm, I don't suppose I'm irritating the bear by shining this laser in it's eyes? It's 46 meters away now. I should probably go. I love you Dad. Tell Mom I lov...
<NO CARRIER>
Archaeology
by
ParticleGirl
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· Score: 4, Interesting
It's the perfect tool for an archaeologist. We need compasses, GPS, inclinometers, digital cameras-- but I probably couldn't use it under the canopy of a jungle, and since the battery is only good for 8 hours and rechargable in a car-- and I wouldn't see a car nor a generator for a couple of months-- it remains, sadly, impractical. I guess I just have to tote around the 6 separate, heavier instruments and the supply of batteries. If this had smarter batteries, I would be ecstatic right now. I'm sure that archaeologists who work closer to civilization (and therefore care less whether they're carting 1 instrument or 6) are probably pretty psyched, though!
This sounds like the ideal device for handheld wardriving or 'war-walking'. With some open source software from handhelds.org for the PocketPC, thanks to Jim Gettys and his team, the Kismet wireless and a host of open source tools, you've got the basics. The integrated GPS and the laser distance meter then give you almost everything you'd need to start finding wireless networks, map then, and publish the results on the Internet. Wait! See someone suspicious coming towards you? Just put the device into your pocket and walk away, or enjoy the sight of birds on the rooftops or the shape of the fluffy clouds.
Aside from the included hardware, just add a WiFI card with the Prism II chipset and the homemade antenna of your choice, and you're off to the races. This is the first all-in-one handheld wardriving unit I've heard of.
Real Estate maybe but not professional survey
by
mr_lithic
·
· Score: 2, Informative
This would be perfect for real estate agents who need to combine their pda's and electronic distance measurers but it seems a little imprecise and lightweight for real survey work.
The title of top survey data collector is still the HP-48GX.
When we ran survey we would try to grab the tripod with the HP-48 bracketed on it. This little data collector would make our lives easier, reduce the overall time for the survey and increase the time in the pub. All very good things.
HP-48GX - Good data bucket and a good deal cheaper than the grand that Topcon and such want for their Data Collection handhelds.
..they could have hooked up with ...
by
burgburgburg
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· Score: 2, Funny
They can take pictures of all the girls they could have hooked up with.
You mean, all the girls they could have hooked up with if they weren't carrying the combined GPS, electronic compass, laser distance meter, inclinometer, digital camera, Pocket PC 2003 handheld? Come on, even then it's unlikely.
Laser Speed Gun?
by
WorkingHome
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· Score: 2, Insightful
It would be fun to play around with the laser distance mechanism to see if you could design a speed gun with this thing. I would hope they would allow developers access to the appropriate APIs to allow this. It wouldn't be good for police work, but it would be fun the average consumer. The price needs to come down quite a bit, though.
"ideal for GIS and other surveys"
by
flacco
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· Score: 2, Funny
...and for targeting mortars.
-- pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
one size doesnt fit all
by
io-waiter
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· Score: 2, Informative
Well yes and no, depending of type of surveying you are doing. I think that its impossible to find one handheld today that is an useful tool for all type of survey work. Most surveying use aerial photos as a base, unless they are corrections or add-ons to old maps, or based on magnetical, sonar, radar or other obscure methods. So photos taken by the survey man himselfs are often of interesting details, but 1024x768 seems low (even if it has good optics)
Geological surveying
-Soil, large screen needed, can be done from cars, editing directly onto map.
-Bedrock or any large boulders what youre after you want good GPS accuray, easy data input (text) and a nice camera.
-Chemical/water surveying, data input device with nice GPS.
Economical
-dGPS or better is needed.
General factors
-Precision, dGPS is an bonus in many cases but a must in few, good GPS reception will do in most cases ( few handheld/gps combos has that)
-Price, most heavy duty, waterproof super handheld thingies cost 6x an ipaq with GPS...
-Another tool
/IO-waiter
Perfect for Geocaching!
by
Coaster-Sj
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· Score: 2, Interesting
If they could bring the price down these would be perfect for Geocaching!
I'm drooling at the thought.
It would be easy to write some software to allow you to upload a GPX file and then have the unit load all the waypoints and be able to display the cache info.
Anyone want to donate $12000 for me to test it?
-- "Average intelligence is pretty damn stupid"
This is no *Pocket* PC
by
Serious+Simon
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· Score: 2, Insightful
It's huge and heavy: 260mm x110mm x 70mm weighing more than a kilogram. Not something you would put in a pocket, and only to be "handheld" for a short time.
Re:Detail level
by
theMerovingian
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· Score: 2, Informative
There are 2 kinds of GPS equipment - mapping grade and survey grade. Survey grade has accuracy down to about 1cm, and mapping grade is generally in the range of 1-10 meter accuracy.
This thing is mapping grade, but of dubious quality. The world leader (also in New Zealand), is Trimble. They will run you about 6k for a submeter accurate unit, that is rugged and comes with a good warranty.
-- "If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough."
--Mario Andretti
Re:Just a thought for you...
by
ParticleGirl
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Nope, it's usually multi-layered and dim and wet and dampness poses one of the biggest problems for gear, generally. The thickness of the cover not only makes solar-power really impossible, but makes getting a GIS signal generally impossible, too. If someone makes it possible, a lot of us would be ecstatic. NASA gives a hand and remote sensing helps, but under a canopy as dense as rainforest can be is about as remote as you can get these days, where satellite at least makes it possible to establish contact with something in the middle of deserts and oceans.
It's an optical rangefinder program for the Pocket PC. The program has a database of images (person, tree, car, etc) of known heights. You hold the Pocket PC at arm's length and resize the image on the screen until it's the same height as the distant image. Based on all that, it calculates the distance to the image.
You can also specify values like the height of your Pocket PC screen, the length of your arm, or the height of the thing you're measuring (if you want to find the distance to Yao Ming, for instance).
Slashdot Mirror
...can you mount it on the head of a shark?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Back in my day we only had luck and those flashy things up in the air at night.
For all of us that don't have enough toys to begin with. This will consolidate some of them..
Its a tricorder!
...in your pocket or are you just happy to see the hole you're burning into my retina.
I can see this being used by lots of folks probably not in the original target market: professional hunting guides. All in one unit rangefinder/gps/camera? Make it durable and I bet the hunting crowd would be all over them.
for all the Slashdot geeks. They can take pictures of all the girls they could have hooked up with.
Hell, they can even look at each other range finders to see who actually got the closest to a girl.
for one that can record video. :)
... for something like this with a cell phone. this is close but the wait continues.
I believe it was George Carlin who said that only in America could you stick any two things together and someone would buy it.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
I love toys...
I've been asked by golfers if there's a device that will let them measure the exact distance to the pin (or at least the green).
I've always been at a loss to tell them what they could use, at least when it came to handheld optical devices.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Still, it's missing a wasabi dispenser.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
GPS, Differential GPS, and WAAS isn't accurate enough for high quality survey work. All of these of limited accuracy of more 1 meter, whereas any decent survey should measure error hopefully less than 10 millimeters.
when they manage to shrink them to the size of Derek Zoolander's Mobile Phone.
"The quality of life is inversely proportional to the number of keys on your keyring."
"Ike is a Pocket PC running [...] Bluetooth."
I hope Nokia didn't help them with the Bluetooth code.
I'm afraid this gadget has too much real-world application to be of interest to the geek crowd.
We just bought a few acres of land, and this device would have been the ideal tool for the surveyor. It's clear from the discrepancies between the survey drawing and the aerial views that the surveyor made his measurements, wrote them down, then made his drawing from his notes. The numbers are right, but the outlines of the buildings aren't quite where they should be.
This device, plus a windoze PC with appropriate software, will let the surveyor simply walk to the survey points, point & shoot, hotsync, and print. It's just what the surveyor needs to do his/her job.
So it's obviously too useful to be a geek toy.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
So now I will be able to find exactly where I want to hike up the mountain, be able to know which way I am going, know exactly how far I am from the top, tell how close to verticle I am approaching, take photos as I approach the summit and then have company that will understand me when I trip and crash and go tumbling down said mountain.
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
sounds like something made by swiss army. all it needs now is a magnifying glass and a toothpick.
on a serious note, the perfect addition to the features on this would be cell phone. and wifi. i decided i'm going to wait out on getting a new cell phone until it does absolutely everything i want (no, not need - want).
This is especially useful for wardriving and warflying...
See here.
I never found my PocketPC all that great for usage w/the GPS (I am using PocketPC 2002 though). I have constant stability issues and in the extreme temps we experience here (it got down to -22 without windchill in January) the PocketPCs just don't hold up well enough.
This sounds like a civilian version of the GPS/lidar/etc/binoculars recently used by the military for spotting targets for artillery and other attack missions.
Look at the target, center the crosshairs, read the *target's* GPS co-ordinates (or dump them into the battle net).
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It sounds like the old P40ES system that county and state surveyors have been using for over a decade. A co-worker was even involved in the P40's developement and said that it was a simple task of relaying the opt signal to the three receivers (compass, inclinometer, ld meter). The only NEW developement I see here is the "digitality" of the compass and the addition of the digital camera. Besides that though, I doubt that its worth the retraining of a personnel who are adept at working with the previous equipment. If there had been a need for this device, SURE. But our tax dollars shouldn't be spent on the latest and greatest if it isn't an improvement.
BTW, the secret to finding prices on a web site for products that "don't list price" is to check the press releases - reporters tend to ignore press leads that don't have an estimated price. It would not look good with readers to present rave article for a product none of them can afford or budget for.
It's the perfect tool for an archaeologist. We need compasses, GPS, inclinometers, digital cameras-- but I probably couldn't use it under the canopy of a jungle, and since the battery is only good for 8 hours and rechargable in a car-- and I wouldn't see a car nor a generator for a couple of months-- it remains, sadly, impractical. I guess I just have to tote around the 6 separate, heavier instruments and the supply of batteries. If this had smarter batteries, I would be ecstatic right now. I'm sure that archaeologists who work closer to civilization (and therefore care less whether they're carting 1 instrument or 6) are probably pretty psyched, though!
Do something about world hunger. Click here
Aside from the included hardware, just add a WiFI card with the Prism II chipset and the homemade antenna of your choice, and you're off to the races. This is the first all-in-one handheld wardriving unit I've heard of.
The title of top survey data collector is still the HP-48GX.
When we ran survey we would try to grab the tripod with the HP-48 bracketed on it. This little data collector would make our lives easier, reduce the overall time for the survey and increase the time in the pub. All very good things.
HP-48GX - Good data bucket and a good deal cheaper than the grand that Topcon and such want for their Data Collection handhelds.
MMM I wonder how far it is to that rock
....
points range finder
Pocket pc is shutting down
D'Oh!
Worst
You mean, all the girls they could have hooked up with if they weren't carrying the combined GPS, electronic compass, laser distance meter, inclinometer, digital camera, Pocket PC 2003 handheld? Come on, even then it's unlikely.
It would be fun to play around with the laser distance mechanism to see if you could design a speed gun with this thing. I would hope they would allow developers access to the appropriate APIs to allow this. It wouldn't be good for police work, but it would be fun the average consumer. The price needs to come down quite a bit, though.
...and for targeting mortars.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
You might want to get out of that cave. GPS typically doesn't work well in such conditions, and we'd hate for that nice tech to go to waste.
Paul Lenhart writes words!
Well yes and no, depending of type of surveying you are doing. I think that its impossible to find one handheld today that is an useful tool for all type of survey work. Most surveying use aerial photos as a base, unless they are corrections or add-ons to old maps, or based on magnetical, sonar, radar or other obscure methods. So photos taken by the survey man himselfs are often of interesting details, but 1024x768 seems low (even if it has good optics)
/IO-waiter
Geological surveying
-Soil, large screen needed, can be done from cars, editing directly onto map.
-Bedrock or any large boulders what youre after you want good GPS accuray, easy data input (text) and a nice camera.
-Chemical/water surveying, data input device with nice GPS.
Economical
-dGPS or better is needed.
General factors
-Precision, dGPS is an bonus in many cases but a must in few, good GPS reception will do in most cases ( few handheld/gps combos has that)
-Price, most heavy duty, waterproof super handheld thingies cost 6x an ipaq with GPS...
-Another tool
If they could bring the price down these would be perfect for Geocaching! I'm drooling at the thought. It would be easy to write some software to allow you to upload a GPX file and then have the unit load all the waypoints and be able to display the cache info. Anyone want to donate $12000 for me to test it?
"Average intelligence is pretty damn stupid"
It's huge and heavy: 260mm x110mm x 70mm weighing more than a kilogram. Not something you would put in a pocket, and only to be "handheld" for a short time.
There are 2 kinds of GPS equipment - mapping grade and survey grade. Survey grade has accuracy down to about 1cm, and mapping grade is generally in the range of 1-10 meter accuracy.
This thing is mapping grade, but of dubious quality. The world leader (also in New Zealand), is Trimble. They will run you about 6k for a submeter accurate unit, that is rugged and comes with a good warranty.
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
Nope, it's usually multi-layered and dim and wet and dampness poses one of the biggest problems for gear, generally. The thickness of the cover not only makes solar-power really impossible, but makes getting a GIS signal generally impossible, too. If someone makes it possible, a lot of us would be ecstatic. NASA gives a hand and remote sensing helps, but under a canopy as dense as rainforest can be is about as remote as you can get these days, where satellite at least makes it possible to establish contact with something in the middle of deserts and oceans.
Do something about world hunger. Click here
It's the 24th Century and battery life is only up to 18 hours?!?!?
-Vercingetorix
"Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
http://zedev.com/software/rangefinder/
It's an optical rangefinder program for the Pocket PC. The program has a database of images (person, tree, car, etc) of known heights. You hold the Pocket PC at arm's length and resize the image on the screen until it's the same height as the distant image. Based on all that, it calculates the distance to the image.
You can also specify values like the height of your Pocket PC screen, the length of your arm, or the height of the thing you're measuring (if you want to find the distance to Yao Ming, for instance).