Many firms already provide this sort of datasets to customers with deep enough pockets. This is just a specialized implementation of LiDAR, with cool data filtering. Firms like http://www.terrapoint.com/ provide these datasets all day long for various sorts of clients for various purposes. Resolution down to a few centimeters. Really fascinating stuff.
This orgy of mapping is by no means over the top, in the world of geodsy there are very pressing needs for these sorts of data sets, like geological studies, and biological studies.
Cool LiDAR datasets can be seen here:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImage s/images.php3?img_id=16721 and http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/ms helenslidar.html
This is more than your typical cluster with a fast interconnect bolted on. I would rather picture it as something completely different with a glorified cluster bolted on. The true beauty of the system lies not only in the fast interconnect, but also in the 6 FPGAs that are onboard each chassis. The power of a properly implemented algorithm in hardware is a force to be dealt with. This setup by and far is not your typical cluster.
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Many firms already provide this sort of datasets to customers with deep enough pockets. This is just a specialized implementation of LiDAR, with cool data filtering. Firms like http://www.terrapoint.com/ provide these datasets all day long for various sorts of clients for various purposes. Resolution down to a few centimeters. Really fascinating stuff. This orgy of mapping is by no means over the top, in the world of geodsy there are very pressing needs for these sorts of data sets, like geological studies, and biological studies. Cool LiDAR datasets can be seen here: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImage s/images.php3?img_id=16721 and http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/ms helenslidar.html
This is more than your typical cluster with a fast interconnect bolted on. I would rather picture it as something completely different with a glorified cluster bolted on. The true beauty of the system lies not only in the fast interconnect, but also in the 6 FPGAs that are onboard each chassis. The power of a properly implemented algorithm in hardware is a force to be dealt with. This setup by and far is not your typical cluster.