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3D Weather Data Visualization in Second Life
An anonymous reader noted that the Second Life media blitz continues by saying that "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) with Aimee Weber Studio just unrolled a sneak preview of their educational project in Second Life (due to open in mid November). This appetizer of things to come features the three dimensional visualization of live weather (now on display at the Science Center)." Don't go there expecting that they have like every doppler radar in the US updating in realtime or anything, but it's actually a practical real use for Second Life.
This is the easiest way to find out of it's cold outside?
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
This has been around for ages and in much higher resultion. It's called a window.
10 minutes working on a sig. What a waste.
I'm trying to use it, but it's running very slowly. For the record, I'm using Firefox 2.0 on Fedora Core 5 on a 3.0 GHz Pentium4 computer with 2 GB of memory. I have a 8 Mb/s cable Internet connection, so I don't think network connectivity is the problem.
I'm guessing that the problem is Firefox 2.0, since it works pretty well when I use Konqueror or Opera. What can I do to Firefox 2.0 to make it work properly for this site? This looks like a really fantastic tool for checking on the weather in realtime.
Up up and away
Ok, I must admit, the way they represent it in Second Life is interesting. Symbolic, not realistic, but sometimes symbolization is simply more efficient than realism.
US weather radar layers for Google Earth.
3D pseudo-real-time global clouds layer for Google Earth.
And while we're at it, weather radar data for Canada.
Oh yeah.. you can't use GE at work (as clearly specified in the license), so use the great (and open source) NASA World Wind instead.
Animoog.org
So I have to wait until afterlife in order to use it?
What about a solution which already works during first life?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Has anyone actually used it? It's primitive at best and quite frankly looks unfinished and abandoned by the developers. I'll repeat what I wrote before here about Second Life:
I've tried this out several times. It's free and even THEN it's not worth it. Now I have about the quickest high-speed internet connection and yet it still just sits there for a few minutes downloading everything you walk or fly through. Go to a new place, it starts downloading again....forever.....Ok, so I know it's not all just about how fast your connection is blah blah, but it's a major problem for me as it NEVER feels like you're in another world. It feels like what it is, bad artwork in a bad 3D environment. Fine, but the people that play and you meet must really be nice right?
What people? For the most part most of the world of Second Life looks abandoned. When you go to a place that DOES have people gathered around usually ends up just being either virtual prostitution or porn. Or worse, just people sitting in these chairs that generate for them 1 Lindon per hour or something. Just sitting. Or dancing....AFK people sitting and dancing. Wow, fun! The animations are just horrendous. The avatars and 3D graphics are equally bad. What's the point in even loading this up if nothing even remotely looks real nor interacts in a real way? Remove all the crappy graphics and you're left with what we already have on the net! Web sites and instant messages and email. Second Life just seems to add complications to something that didn't need complications.
Also, don't know what the point is. It's a chat/social/networking thingy that's laggy and unreal. Ok, so basically a instant messenger with badly made 3D avatars that all look like nymphet women wearing very skimpy clothes that still look unreal. We're talking animations and models that are pre Everquest. I felt like I was in some world that was made 15 years or go or something. It also didn't seem finished. It felt like a beta of something that was abandoned about 3 years ago and just barely hanging on.
I don't know...I just don't get it. Are they trying to be? A chat site? A site that has info for companies? Virtual storefronts? The thing is, the Web and instant message clients already do this...and MUCH better too! They had a concert there with Suzanne Vega and did anyone see it? It's about as dynamic as watching grass grow. I mean it. There are videos of it out there on the web from Youtube, see for yourself. What I can't understand is how this is better than seeing a live video of Vega singing and playing. Also, what was stopping some idiot from walking up on the stage with a naked avatar? Did they put some invisible wall up between the performer and the "audience"?
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
What's going on? I thought you had to mention when you were slashdotting a partner/sponsor website.
I don't get why we get such a disproportionate number of Second Life stories on /.
For those who have never tried it: don't bother, it's not that cool. Unless you really enjoy 3d modelling and scripting, it offers nothing over regular text chat.
In 10 years, we'll have the network and the machines to handle everything that the Second Life guys are trying to do, and they'll be hailed as "pioneering" and "ahead of their time". But honestly, it kind of sucks.
I tried Second Life again recently expecting to see a lot of improvement since the last time there was some hooplah about it and I was disappointed. This time around, it was pretty much the same thing.
In the very early days of the Internet there was a project that looks strikingly similar to Second Life - I think it was around 1998 or so and the concept and look and feel was the same. Anyone remember the name? They got a little venture funding and the site never took off - it suffered from the same "Ok, I'm here, now what?" issues that SL seems to have.
I wouldn't call this project abandoned as much as it is still under development. Reading the previous comments, my answer to having easier ways to find the temperature outside is "YES." :-) I recommend turning on a TV, reading the newspaper, or surfing to a web site of your choosing. This visualization should be considered a beta with the intention of showing what Second Life (or technologies like Second Life) may be capable of in the future. (Slashdotted before prime time, ouch)
NOAA and ESRL are looking at Second Life as a possible platform for educational outreach as well as visualizing some of our data much of which is inherently 3D rather than 2D. Our island, which will have more of a focus on education rather than data visualization is slated for opening in the middle of November. If you are interested in more information you can visit our web site (also under construction) at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/outreach/sl/
Eric
I believe the previous projusct you saw was called Traveler, and it's STILL around. Stereo audio, very low bandwidth requirements, and worlds/spaces created by the user population. Pretty cool
I thought the only people interested in second life are the ones who eat cats or dogs. Or the ones who call you a dicksucker with a high-pitched voice in any other game. Why don't you write about every crappy minor change in any crappy game ? Second life is almost as irrelevant for slashdot users as myspace.
There was something called WorldsAway. A 2d multi-user graphical chat world, heavily promoted by CompuServe at the time. I don't remember it being very good, but still going and is now called VZones. Intro demo is worth a laugh.
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
it's called outside, maybe you've heard of it.
Designing 3D islands in Second Life to tell the weather, even in a research capacity, indicates that we're all due a tax refund. This is really the best use of our tax dollars?
Heck, it's the best use just within NOAA? How about a NWS Web site redesign -- it's almost unnavigable.
Second life might be an incredible simulation, but it's far from a game. It is interesting though.
3d Weather simulation though? I'm sure we've had that in multiple places. a large scale version is Flight simulator X which can now pull live weather data every 15 minutes from Jensen.com (A major flight tool provider). And even better with Flight Sim you see exactly how that works in real life.
Though how they present it in Second life might be interesting, I'm finding that now it's even less of a game (not that it was before) and new way to advertise. Though I have to admit it sounds like an interesting idea. Maybe after everything calms down they can do a cyber E3, miniture version. It'd cost them a lot less then those huge booths last year, and even though players think they should be there, they shouldn't but at least they can see a idea of what it used to be like.
I work in Second Life. So I don't feel the need to be a troll and bash anything about it to tell the truth. Slashdot is running too many stories about Second Life. These stories get about 50 replies at most and are usually no more than rehashed press releases like this one or obvious attempts to drum up interest in a Second Life. Slashdot readers have shown through lack of comments that they are not interested in this many stories about this subject. Not to mention it is overexposing a young platform and even creating a bit of backlash against it. This backlash is the fault of an overzealous PR machine at Linden Lab more than anything.
I think it would be nice to cool down this campaign and let something that is actually groundbreaking happen before posting another Second Life story. I love SL but all of these stories make even me see it as overhyped BS.
I joined the other day to see what the fuss is all about. And I'm now totally baffled as to what the fuss is all about. I was looking at graphics that hadn't advanced since the hoo-ha about virtual worlds back in the late 90's. Crude and extremely difficult to navigate in a world about as attractive and welcoming as a... well as a graphically rendered world circa 1998. Nasty.
And the thought of interacting with even more poorly rendered avatars which only represent real humans' own invented alter egos is even less attractive a thought. Utterly lame, as the kids would say.
So rendering weather in such a horrible environment seems rather pointless. So now we'll see a bunch of people with bugs bunny heads and angel wings wandering randomly about the place spouting random thoughts whilst walking right through various bits of random stuff strewn about the place... while it pours with rain. Well that sounds like a lot of fun
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
I don't really envy those who have to live second life - sometimes I find it hard to live this one life ;)
Hypercosm could do animated weather maps.
nt
If you're too busy living your First Life to check out the weather in Second Life, you can always visit the Great Blue Room...
Honestly, only geeks and nerds will ever use the internet. No one else will care.
As long as they keep giving us such primitive and poorly designed online experiences as Half Life.
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
that thing out of CERN anyway.
I think the creators of Half Life probably still think Gopher is current tech. Did they just resurrect the code for the original virtual world stuff of yore and rebrand it? The web is about innovation - the graphics in Half Life are more crude than 100,000 year old cave paintings.
Sheesh
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
It isn't good or bad, its somewhere in between. Sure you could join up, give yourself some supermodel physique and tear ass around the world spouting the same dumb ass crap you would in your normal body. Dur, that's a given.
What I saw in my first few minutes there was not the NOAA link I originally signed up for...which by the way, kind-of sucks. But I found an International Space Museum that offered crude, but better than I've come across inside views of the space shuttle, Virgin galactic, and even the monkey-death-trap-based cockpits. This was along with 3D models of any rocket I could and couldn't really think of with an info placard that briefly explained its service history. (shhh they even had commie rockets!) It was like 3 flight museums rolled into one. There even happened to be a guest speaker about Hubble at the time. His speech was bland and predictable. blah blah pillars of creation...blah blah (insert generic Hubble image quote). The real kicker was an animated 3D image of the approximated guts of Hubble. Now any enterprising person interested in space imagery or astrophysics would already have a Sombrero Galaxy (M104) desktop image. But people that think stars are pretty crap that shows up at night, and mostly in rural areas would really stand to learn something. Plus this guy is really a PhD, with enough interest in spreading truth that if I had a good question to ask him, I might've learned something.
I later attended a course in scripting objects that communicate with the SL world. Sounds gay to be sure, but the guy was a human teaching other students how to work in the world with a very basic tool set of comm functions. He handed out example objects with code tied to them and *we* uncommented pertinent lines of code to alter the objects behavior. It was definitely a 101 course but it had a human element. Q&A that you don't get from a wikipedia or some 3l173 guy saying RTFM. You could actually ask a pro with absolutely $0 spent and no time really wasted on finding him. It was like a class at the Y for SL scripting.
So for everyone that says WTF, I agree completely. The alternate lifestyle via this medium is completely ridiculous. Like this one "girl" that was every bit of 36x24x36 at 6'2" and wearing something lacy that where it wasn't bear skin exposed erect, I kid you not, erect nipples under lace. To top it off, model face and some kind of feathered-bleached-layered hair-do that is pretty much what anybody would attempt to lay. That said, I can guarantee it was a 40 year old guy in the Midwest that had a penchant for children..If not it was a 300 pound woman in the Midwest missing said husband. SO YEAH, THERE IS A DIRTY UNDERBELLY. If you have half a brain cell, you can discard those dorks and move on with a pretty good educational tool.
Yeah. I blame it on being dog tired when posting that. It was a hard week for me last week.
:-)
So yeah, Second Life sucks, Half Life doesn't. Thanks for pointing that out
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
...a Weather Rock.
:-)
When it's white, it's snowing outside.
When it's wet, it's raining.
When it's...
I've been waiting for a live weather layer in Google Earth for months. Makes sense right? Even if the imagery isn't completely up-to-date, the weather in the area is very helpful. Zoom, tilt, rotate, and see where that storm is going to hit! :)
Do or do not. There is no try. --Yoda
"Honey, tell me if it is cold outside. Do I need to wear my jacket?"
* expletive laden response *
"Does that mean it is cold, or just cold in hell?"
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
At the risk confirming my ignorance, I open my mouth to ask:
As I understand, "Second Life" (or "SL"), is a "Game"? It is sold by a third-party and uses network servers to allow player? Isn't there a subscription fee for access (besides the outlay for the initial game software)?
If NOAA is working on a project to display their publicly funded data in a virtual setting, that will be displayed in SL, will people be able to access this data on a "free account" in SL, or is the outcome of this project only accessible to people who "pay to play" SL?
Is this a way to get US citizens to pay a second time for access to weather data already collected through public funding?
I appreciate the new "display format" (or I might if I could actually see and/or use it), but if it is only available to private parties playing in the 3rd-party, "pay-to-exist & access" game world, I hope NOAA is being compensated by "SL" for the added benefit NOAA is bringing to the game. --OR--
I could hope that "dummy characters" could be publicly available to use through a free or open-source (SL) client that allows viewing of the NOAA, virtualized, weather data.
Perhaps one could enter the "VR" in a B/W, 2-D, low-res, "avatar" to use "public facilities", but paying members would get full-color, full-res, 3-D "avatar".
Or, alternatively, public-access avatars could be like "ghosts" - not interacting w/surroundings, having limited mobility and limited access to "public facilities". Perhaps a phone-booth metaphor would be useful for talking to people in the game, but "real" (game) interaction would be limited to paying members?
Anyway, anyone know if anything will be accessible to the general public?
Ignorance confirmed :)
A quick jaunt to secondlife.com you would have seen a big orange box proclaiming membership is free.