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Mars Rover Technology Used to Make Better Maps

Posted by Zonk on from the friends-in-high-places dept.

Cal writes "An article on the O'Reilly Radar site discusses a new street mapping technology by a company in Berkeley called earthmine. They are using technology developed by the Jet Propulsion Lab for the Mars Exploration Rover missions for reconstructing three-dimensional data of the street-scape. 'The licensed software and algorithms are used to create a 3D representation of the local terrain, allowing autonomous routing of the MERs through the Martian environment. earthmine has combined this JPL technology with its unique, capture hardware and web delivery technology to deliver 3D data with unprecedented density and accuracy.'"

3 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Exclusive license for federally-funded research? by bn0p · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the press release referenced in the article "The agreement with JPL and Caltech includes an exclusive and perpetual license for photogrammetric technology that allows for the creation of very dense and accurate 3D data from stereo panoramic imagery. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Caltech has taken an equity position in earthmine." [emphasis added]

    OK, CalTech owns part of earthmine and JPL is at CalTech. That's fine, but didn't tax dollars pay for the technology developed at JPL? IANAL, but it *used* to be that federally-funded research needed to be made available to everyone - not licensed in perpetuity to a private company. When did this change?


    Never let reality temper imagination

    --
    Never let reality temper imagination
  2. Re:Googleearth by PenGun · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You buy the enterprise version for that. Does area etc. The free version does very accurate distance measurement. It shows my 30' fith wheel as 30'. Shows logs I have visited at their actual length. I dunno what more you need. I'll get the plus version to import GPS data when I go a crusin' this spring.

      Yamaha WR450F and Vancouver Island with Googleearth + GPS. Hard to beat for crazy fun ;).

  3. Re:Googleearth by NathanBFH · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think you underestimate the power of the technology JPL is using. I remember being enthralled with the Mars missions in the weeks preceding and following the rovers' landings. I even downloaded the public applications that JPL made available that allow them to process/view the 3D data that comes back from the rovers. It really is of a completely different quality than what Google provides. I wish I could find the links, but maybe someone else has them?