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Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete
An anonymous reader writes "Kudos to NASA and the Japanese trade ministry for mapping 99% of the Earth's surface, surpassing their previous effort, with which the new data will be amalgamated. Apparently, the data will be free to download and use."
Anyone know last 1% isn't mapped? Is it just hard to access or is it part of a top secret organization?
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Duelling lawsuits in 3... 2... 1...
As noted by some. This also has been the most detailed fail.
How do these folks break even if the data will be free to download and use?
As it stands right now, the US government won't.
This error message sums it up pretty well:
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80040e4d'
/index.asp, line 3
[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Too many client tasks.
Acess?! Really?!
________
Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
Hmm, tax payers already paid for it, no? I know that you can get topographical data from several government agencies already for free (NASA, USGS, etc...)
Apparently, the data will be free to download and use.
You know, it never ceases to amaze me that CNN, BBC, Fox News, everybody who's a major player can't link to the original source of information (and Japan's site). One might find the warehouse inventory search tool (note registration required for ASTER global digital elevation model) interesting to play around with if they are interested in the story.
My work here is dung.
...will they update it? With all the movements throughout the globe from earthquakes, volcanoes, tectonic movement, etc, you'd think this data would be invalidated in 5-10 years.
IANAG though.
How do these folks break even if the data will be free to download and use? A small nominal charge for use or download would not hurt for sure...or would it?
What are you, some kind of RIAA mobster?
No wonder he's not returning your calls. He can't hear a word your saying on the messages, since your phone is stuck in your rectum.
I think the solution is to just buy a new one. Along with a MacBook Pro and some Apple t-shirts and bumper stickers. Rock on!
Le français vous intéresse?
As disgusting as that troll is it does have some nostalgic value just due its age.
Also did you you forget to post anonymously?
Seems the project name for this data is ASTER. Of course, what everyone (like me at least) wants to know is how can we import this stuff into Google Earth or NASA World Wind so we can picture the slopes on that mountain bike trail?
As far as I can tell (from very briefly scanning the Exercises ASTER document earlier), you can do this by downloading some tool that comes from the project itself, and then using it to generate a KML file.
Not too hard, but does anyone know more, or have a simpler way? I'm sure Google Eearth and WW will want to get this data incorporated ASAP, if they haven't already done so.
This, combined with Google Maps or the like, could help in making a nice video game or two.
They break even by people finding profitable uses for it, which then produce tax revenue. Remember, the agencies doing this are US and Japanese government agencies.
It would be neat to have this done again in 50 years and have an overlay comparison of the two.
"The Y chromosome is genetic. The odds are very good that if you are male then your father was too." -Internet Commenter
I pulled an all-nighter, and I saw the dual headlines - carnivorous bugs, NASA and 99% of the earth, and I was nearly ready to head for the hills thinking that some astronauts had just made a terrible, terrible mistake.
This is my sig.
If anyone is interested in the TIF file here it is:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/363790main_PIA12090_gdem-press-colorized-topo.tif
This is a digital elevation map at 30m resolution. The only other global DEM freely available is SRTM from a shuttle mission a while ago. It's only available at 90m globally and 30m for the US. This will be used for orthorectifying images and interferometry of satellite data among other things.
Isn't that always true?
but the government is evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everybody seems to think I'm lazy I don't mind, I think they're crazy
you can still get a PhD in Geography~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
They have already been paid for it, by the taxpayers. That is why it's available at no further cost, something most sane people refer to as being free when talking in general terms.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Maybe there will be at least one use for the new Pirate Bay then.
@neonux
to image the earth you must have a cloudless day...they're still waiting.
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
Getting an accurate world elevation map essentially for free is really cool. Previously you had to get one of the commercial scenery DVDs that would set you back at least $50.
After all, having realistic mointain terrain makes flying much nicer and recognizing land features will be much easier. Then map some Sat terrain on top, for example with the Tileproxy application and everything will look just real.
--- Eat my sig.
It's actually an oxymoron... completed a "most complete" map? Aren't you complete when you have completed it?
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
it just wouldn't feel right if they consolidated or incorporated the data, or, heaven forbid, unified or merged the data
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete
Brought to you by the department of redundancy department.
Apparently, the data will be free to download and use."
My tax dollars already paid for this info.
Did anybody else notice that the report of a newsworthy task by U.S. and Japanese agencies was reported by the BBC? Not ABC, NBC, CNN, or any other U.S. based news agency and certainly not by a Japan based agency. It's coverage like this that keeps me going back to the BBC.
My office has been taken over by iPod people.
A completely accurate topographical map of the whole Earth? Including possible locations of military installations, elementary schools and donut shops? That's madness!
You know who would want this kind of information? Terrorists, that's who. If they figure out what the Earth looks like, they might blow it up! Clearly this 'Japan' company is a front for free-lance international terrorists like Hans Gruber, and they must be stopped.
Keep this dangerous terrorist tool off the market before the children are hurt by it! Pass new laws restricting access to this kind of sensitive topographical information. Make it a crime to even talk about possessing a "map", even if it's of a fictional place. Only then can we truly be safe.
Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete
They invented the Thesaurus so we could avoid situations like this.
Main Entry: complete
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: carry out action
Synonyms: accomplish, achieve, actualize, cap, close, conclude, consummate, crown, determine, develop, discharge, do, effect, elaborate, end, equip, execute, fill, finalize, finish, fulfill, furnish, halt, make up, perfect, perform, realize, refine, round off, settle, supplement, terminate, ultimate, wind up*, wrap up*, bring to fruition, bring to maturity, call it a day, carry off, do thoroughly, effectuate, get through, go the limit, go through with, go whole hog, make good, put to bed, round out, sew up
How many raytracing nerds will pull this into POV-Ray as source data for a spherically warped height field?
My office has been taken over by iPod people.
* Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 UT to Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:00:00 UT:
We will be performing maintenance on the LAADS' system on Tuesday, June 30 between 11am and 1pm. There will be intermittent connectivity problems during this time.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
That proves it. Obama is a communist!! Run for the hills! Without a profit motive this cannot exist. The sky is falling. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I believe that is what is commonly referred to as: "close enough for government work."
Hmm, tax payers already paid for it, no?
Actually, considering the size of the national debt, no, they haven't. Their grandchildren will.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Also did you you forget to post anonymously?
Smidge207 is a troll poster. I believe the real Smidge is Smidge204.
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
I mean, 70% of the surface is trivially described as smooth and blue.
So they are not taxpayers anymore? Perhaps they should be called mapbuyers instead...
Ezekiel 23:20
They make money the same way linux distor companies to...they don't
What's likely to happen with this "free" data is that Navteq, TeleAtlas, and Google will grab it for free, but then the rest of us will have to pay dearly for the privilege of using their commercialized derivative. NASA's license for it should include clauses demanding fees for any commercial uses, and then donate the fees to the FSF or some other org that benefits the Greater Good.
So, it's the most complete complete map. But, is it completely complete? Just checking.
sig: sauer
Wake me when the Complete Topographical Map is mostly complete. THEN I'll be impressed.
...your phone is stuck in your rectum.
I think the solution is to just buy a new one...
Do you have any idea how much a new rectum costs?!? Not to mention that the recovery after the grafting procedure is extremely painful. Rectum? Damn near killed 'im.
Surely there's another solution.
For Apple users cost doesn't matter, remember? And psh. If Steve Jobs can survive a liver transplant, you can survive a rectum transplant.
Le français vous intéresse?
When I look up the total land area of the earth i get different numbers ranging from 148M sq. km to 153M sq. km.
So an average of 150.5M sq. km + or minus @2.5M sq. km or @965k sq. miles
So they're mapping to less than the margin of error for different sources as to the total land area.
But what I find interesting is that there appears to be variations equal to three times the area of Alaska (656k sq. Miles).
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/DanielChen.shtml
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
Isn't that always true?
Indeed it is. Though there's still room for improvement, as 1% remains uncompleted.
This will (well, could) be great for geek hikers like myself; I find the topographical maps available okay, but don't really give one an accurate feel for the lay of the land. Incorporating this map into GPS (or, in the shorter term, some open source mapping software on a PDA-sized device) will be very cool...
Sigh, one of these days I hope to look at the beautiful surroundings nature provides, more than I look at my gadgets I bring with me :) Oh well, navigating/mapping is half the fun of exploring, to me (whether in a car, boat, or on foot).
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
No. But 'complete map most complete' is. As you have almost intuited, the summary headline is free of meaning.
Semantically speaking, isn't the "most complete topographical map" of the world always complete?
It's the point where the pedestal stand is connected to the globe that is the unmappable 1%.
How bad are we that when they say they mapped 99% of the Earth, we all ask what was the 1% that was missed?
It's like when the poor kid comes home with 99% on their test, and their father says, "what did you get wrong?". Talk about giving people a complex!
By the way, it's probably the poles where the orbital inclination doesn't allow the satellites to see.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
I am actually using this data for my thesis project in geology. Actually, I'm really excited to learn about this, as the previously available 90m resolution SRTM data isn't really sufficient for my needs.
The SRTM data is all free to download, if you can figure out their poor interface for selecting the files you need. If it wasn't, there would be a lot fewer people working with it. It is the most important data for the analyses I'm doing, and without it my thesis would be a lot different (you can do similar things with regular topographic maps, but essentially only by making hand measurements). I'm really glad that I haven't done a ton of analyses using the SRTM data - now I will wait until I can get my hands on the new stuff.
For a grad student like me with little to no funding for my research and a tiny paycheck from working as a TA, even a nominal fee to download is prohibitive. Even for someone that DOES have funding, paying for stuff like this is extremely annoying. Despite what journal publishers want you to think, science is about openness and sharing of information. Most scientists freely share their data and work with others - even those that work with proprietary data in industry, if you ask them nicely.
And as others have noted - we already paid for it. It's produced by the government.
Now, here's the best part - there is actually 30m data from the SRTM mission. However, except for North America, only the 90m data is available, because it's restricted - not by NASA, but by the DOD. So with this new data they've apparently side-stepped the DOD. NASA and the USGS do seem like they want to get their data out their and accessible by scientists, despite what the DOD may want. I am working on Thailand, so the 30m SRTM data was restricted, but now I should be able to get this new data at the same resolution.
That's not really an issue with this type of data. Remember, the resolution is 30m. There is nothing geologic (that would show up in this type of data) that moves anywhere close to that on human time scales.
There IS data on movement such as those you list, showing real time (in geologic time anyway) movement of the crust due to tectonics, or other things. It's actually a pretty major field in geology, studying minute changes. InSAR and millimeter-accurate differential GPS are two techniques.
Relatively coarse DEM data like ASTER or SRTM is used for different applications where millimeter accuracy isn't necessary - i.e., most things :)
Additionally, there is enough inaccuracy in the instrumentation used for DEM data like this that doing multiple passes will give you significantly different results - the error is measured in meters. Therefore, any small changes - and earthquakes, volcanoes, and tectonic movements are small changes in the big scheme of things - are completely irrelevant as they'll be averaged out anyway. It should be interesting to make a comparison to previous datasets, though, and I'm sure there are people working on that already.
Of course, I suppose you'd notice in this data if a huge volcanic explosion occurred, like when half of Mt. St. Helens blew off. However, that's exceedingly rare :)
IAAGGS (I am a geology grad student).
I should have mentioned, actually, that for North America, Google Earth probably has better resolution elevation data than this. I think it's based on topographic maps, which have approximately 12-15m resolution, while this new data has 30m resolution. So you might not actually see any improvement in your mountain bike trail profile in Google Earth. However, it may very well be interesting to import it anyway to see the differences. I'm not sure how Google processes the elevation data and it may very well be inaccurate in some places.
Where this new data is really useful is for the rest of the world, where high resolution digital data was not available.
that is a fallacy, thinking that the national debt will ever be paid. we passed the tipping point for that under Bush, and Obama was on board with such nonsense then and of course has continued digging a deeper hole
Anyone with any reading comprehension skills, and basic understanding of English can "intuit" the meaning of the summary headline.
There is a project to create a topographical map of earth - that map will be the most complete map of its kind.
That project is now complete.
It wasn't that hard now, was it?
What are you, some kind of RIAA mobster?
Not giving information away from free == RIAA mobster?
... if it is complete.
Let me correct you:
[quote]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales
Long and short scales ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The long and short scales are two of the several different numerical systems used throughout the world:
Short scale is the English translation of the French term échelle courte.[1] It refers to a system of numeric names in which every new term greater than million is 1,000 times the previous term: billion means a thousand millions (109), trillion means a thousand billions (1012), and so on.
Long scale is the English translation of the French term échelle longue. It refers to a system of numeric names in which every new term greater than million is 1,000,000 times the previous term: billion (from bi and million) means a million to the power of two or a million millions (1012), trillion (from tri and million) means a million to the power of three or a million billions (1018), and so on.
Note that the difference between the two scales grows as numbers get larger. Million is the same in both scales, but the long-scale billion (1,000,000,000,000) is a thousand times larger than the short-scale billion (1,000,000,000), the long-scale trillion is a million times larger than the short-scale trillion, and so on.
For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United Kingdom uniformly used the long scale,[2] while the United States of America used the short scale,[2] so that usage of the two systems was often referred to as British and American respectively. In 1974, the government of the UK abandoned the long scale, so that the UK now exclusively applies the short scale interpretation in mass media and official usage.[3][4][5][6] Although some residual usage of the long scale continues in the UK,[7] the phrases British usage and American usage are no longer accurate nor helpful characterizations. The two systems can be a subject of misunderstanding or controversy. Usage changes can evoke resentment in adherents to the older system, while national differences of any kind can acquire jingoistic overtones.[8]
Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale. There are other numbering systems which are neither long nor short scale such as the Chinese numbering system, the Indian numbering system, the Japanese numbering system, and the Korean numbering system.
[end quote]
Funny story:
My patriarch was raised in South America, once during dinner whilst discussing the US deficit, Walmart's capitalization or a baller's salary, I said something like:
* he has a half billion dollar contract
* the export deficit is 40 billion dollars
* that company is bigger than IBM, General Motors, it's a monter 100+ billion dollar company
He looked flabbergasted, as though he had seen his first UFO, and was incredulous of the amount!
I had a quick insight and I said:
``A United States billion is a thousand million. A US trillion is a million million. OK?''
To which he said:
``Whew! that makes more sense. You were talking real money there, for a minute.''
As a child, an ignorant NYC teacher rebuked me brusquely when I grew confused at the mention of billion and trillion with so few left-hand-of-decimal-place zeros. The guy had never heard of long and short scale systems. What r-e-a-l-l-y confused me was his bad attitude, I was a dumb public school kid, wtf could I possibly know. Now on tangent, when it came to decimal period vs decimal commas, thousand place commas vs thousand place periods (points), I didn't bother to clarify with that lardass. That would have really thrown him. ^.^
I want to see a flight simulator, which uses this data to simulate the whole world.
Hating that other people give information away for free == RIAA mobster.
If it's not 100% complete, how do they decide that it's complete?
Will the real Smidge please stand up? Please stand up?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete
Isn't that always true?
In fact, it's not.
Complete is an absolute and therefore does not admit of comparison.
Phrases such as "most complete", "very unique", "kinda pregnant" and the like are always intrinsically illogical.