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Camera Vans To Photograph 50 Million Buildings
dritan writes "A new van unveiled at CeBIT America is equipped with 50 digital cameras and takes pictures every 15 feet -- with the goal of photographing 50 million buildings in the country. These photos could be cross-referenced with aerial photographs so that law enforcement or insurance agencies can get overhead and street level views of the same location -- just by entering an address." Time to hang out the "Hi, Mom!" signs.
I just happen to be an enthusiast of the art of architecture. This would be a great way to look up and view buildings by address/location.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Combined with mapping data can we make levels for our favourite games, with pictures of buildings true to life?
ah, mod points
And yet, if I take pictures anywhere near a Federal building, subway tunnel or bridge, even from a public sidewalk, the goons will want to catalogue me as a potential threat.
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As many genealogists know, there are entire archives of fire insurance photographs of many homes and other buildings from the 1880s to 1970. This is nothing new, except for the correlation with satellite images.
Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
Vote them out of office in November?
Keith Lofstrom server-sky.com
"Can I compile my own database?"
"No, you may not compile your own database."
"Can I photograph just a few buildings here in there?"
"No, you could be a terrorist."
"Can I *look* at the buildings?"
"NO LOOKING!"
"But.."
"NO LOOKING!!!"
Finding God in a Dog
Yes. This is just a database of publicly-available information: the outside appearances of buildings. No privacy or copyright concerns.
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
How do they maintain this image collection so that it stays up to date? If a single building changes (is modified, demolished, etc.) will they go back and photograph it? Or will they just do huge city sweeps every year or so? I would think they'd be doing the latter. It'd be like a photographic street directory.
OLPC Australia
Wake up call, people. Your house, unless it's behind a fence, is already accessible visually to the public. I can walk out my door right now, with my camera, and snap pictures of every house on my street.
What'll that get me? Not much, except a bunch of pictures of houses on my street.
If this helps the 911 guys find my house better in case of an emergency, good for them. If it never happens, they've got a picture of a blue house with tan trim.
Someone please enlighten me as to how this could possibly be bad.
Mabey they have already been by your house.
But honestly What you do on the outside of your house is for the public view. If you dont want your house to been seen you buy a secluded woods area and build your house underground.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You don't need this database to do that: if you've lived in a city for a year or more, you probably have a good idea of which neighborhoods are rich, which are poor, and which are trouble spots. From there, you just drive through your target neighborhood looking for places that would make good targets. No need for a computer, and your surveillence will be more up-to-date.
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
A year? Heck you can do all that with public records. Just look up house prices, school taxes and crime rate per 100K. There's half your information right there. Or just drive around a city for an hour. Worrying that this system will lead to increased targeted crime is silly.
you wouldnt need IR LEDs... those FLIR cameras are so powerful, all you'd need is to use something that has a different temperature than your roof as a writing material.
of course, using flashing signs made with IR LEDs would be sure to catch the attention of camera operator.
I once had this halfbaked idea of modding a car with IR illumination all over it, and drive around the areas full of camcorder-wielding tourists...
They steal this kind of stuff because it can be crammed in a trash bag in under 5 minutes, and because it's very liquid, i.e. they can easily sell it at a pawn shop without attracting much attention. Selling a crappy stereo may net $20, but the unicycle is pretty unique, and is going to attract trouble, so its value is probably in the negative when you figure the cost of hiding from the law. Detachable-face stereos, or other lame anti-theft gizmos aren't really that effective; It's not like the devices can't be circumvented, or a replacement face plate be stolen/bought. My point is that small time thieves are very good at what they do: Why steal a $100 item and get caught, when you can steal 5 $20 items and never attract attention?
The photo archives may make it possible for thieves to "case" potential targets without being seen in the neighborhood, or without visiting the town hall. I know what my neighbors look like and what cars they drive. I'd be able to spot an outsider in an instant. This kind of information helps police catch thieves.
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS