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tugrikI'm quite grooving on this new 3D viz tool I've been handed. It's something I'd thought up a few years ago, and even though I never had the drive/ability to bring it to life, I'm glad to see someone else did! In short, it's a mapping tool that hooks to a live database on the 'net, combining satellite imagery, road data, and topo data (USGS digital elevation maps) into a realtime 'fly through' interface that needs a GeForce 4 to operate right. Ever seen those commercials where they have gone to great lengths to do a zoom from an overhead front-yard shot to outer-space, in an uber-zoom-out? It can do that realtime, for any point on the earth... and oh so much more.
I've always had a high amount of navigational skill. I never knew why, but it's almost never failed me, taking only the smallest amount of time in a new area before I could find my way to anywhere nearby at will. In some places this automatic-background-skill works better than others, and it's only in the last few years I figured out why. When entering a new area I'm all heads-up, looking around. It only takes a few vantage points and a handful of common landmarks and I've built a mental overhead map of the area, which then enables me to find just about anything within it. Areas that are excessively featureless or are so tree-crowded as to starve me of good overlooks end up being the areas I have problems with. I was also always fascinated by maps, even as a little kid. They were satisfying... and looking back on it, I think it was because they gave me a tool to validate these mental 3-space maps I was subconsciously building.
What's all this got to do with the tool at hand? Well... it's not just neat, it's downright gratifying. I've spent the last half-day just flying through it, re-verifying places I've been all over California, gaining viewpoints that are either difficult or impossible to get to... but that can reinforce my sense of space. I keep finding moments of Oh! So *that's* the relationship between that ridge and the hill beyond, and other strangely satisfying moments. Plugging in the last piece of a topological puzzle feels cool.
Example: There is a 17 mile road-loop behind my house, called Hicks Road. It starts almost immediately behind my block, and leaps into a set of twists and elevation changes through almost completely undeveloped areas. I takes less than 5 minutes to go from my front door to what looks like some remote mountain landscape -- and that keeps me sane. I don't do urban life well, folks. I've lived successfully in the tip of overpopulated San Jose by living right against the base of un-populated hills. I can trick my brain into thinking I'm out in open territory, just by looking to the south. When I discovered it, I would ride this loop at least once a week in the van. Now that I'm an avid two-wheeler, I ride it almost every other day. It's my 'long way home' from work, and it helps keep me mellow.
At the top of the Hicks Loop is a turnoff that winds up the hill until thou shalt not cross closed gates stop you. This area is called Sierra Azul, and a mile-long hike ends up on Bald Mountain, overlooking the whole of the south bay. I've gone up there regularly to view sunsets and sunrises, to take pictures and to just think. Part of me knows something special will happen there someday, be it an ending or a beginning... so I return now and then to see if it's time. Each time has been a satisfying break from generic suburban life. The only thing that bugged me about it was that it was a minor topological mystery: I could get up there -- and see the valley floor from it -- but I couldn't find that hill when looking back up from the valley below! For the last 5 years or so this has been a background grump I was determined to solve, but never got around to doing the GPS-and-compass sighting necessary to get it done.
With this new tool, I simply followed the road on the arial photographs to the parking point, and then to Bald Mountain itself. Turn on the DEMs (the altitude component) and warp the pictures into 3D... tilt the landscape down. Suddenly... it all made perfect sense. A tiny ridge-wrinkle hides the sub-summit that is Bald from my house and other familiar downslope viewpoints... and the places it COULD be seen from, the shape of the hill is easily masked by the larger ridge behind it, known as Umunhum... a peak I could easily identify from anywhere. In the image below... the pushpin in the lower right is my house. Bald is pointed at with an arrow. It was only at this mile-high computer generated vantage point that the position became so clear.
It was like finding the set of spare keys you just knew were sitting around the house somewhere but you could never quite locate. A minor thing, but it causes a feeling of 'Yeah, got it, finally." My mental map of the place feels much more complete. I'll go up there tomorrow after work (or maybe Saturday if I can convince freinds to see a movie friday night) and see how the place feels with a proper set of bearings in my head.
To abuse the little tool s'more, I translated forwards a few thousand meters and up a little bit, to give a downward view of a chunk of the Hicks Loop. I've highlighted the turnout and the stop-gate where one must park to hike up there. The road follows the little resevoir at the bottom of the picture, and disappears off to the left, to loop back up Almaden and back towards home. If you click-through to the original image (two clicks), it's much bigger. Try it sometime -- the photorealistic nature is just amazing. It's just a satellite-picture stretched over a mesh, but it's clean. Now imagine this pic rotating/zooming/panning in real time. It's a blast.
Example 2: Laguna Seca.
In my earlier post, I talked about camping on Fox Hill. Here's the satellite/DEM map of the track to give my journal-reading friends the 'overview' shot. I labelled Fox Hill. The white "X" is where we camped.
Compare that computer-graphic shot to this real shot below. In the CG one, the white dot is where I stood, and the arrow shows the direction I was facing. I pointed out the tire bridge, as it's a visible landmark in the shot below. The pond (in the center) is blue instead of green, due to the angle of the camera, and it's covered in white Vendor tents, but it's the same place:
This just makes me bounce and get hyper like a sugar-soaked child with attention disorder. Had I only the M4d Sk1llz to code up a game that would use this as its engine. Still, sheesh... getting excited about a map tool? I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Deeeyang, I'm such a geek.
I've always had a high amount of navigational skill. I never knew why, but it's almost never failed me, taking only the smallest amount of time in a new area before I could find my way to anywhere nearby at will. In some places this automatic-background-skill works better than others, and it's only in the last few years I figured out why. When entering a new area I'm all heads-up, looking around. It only takes a few vantage points and a handful of common landmarks and I've built a mental overhead map of the area, which then enables me to find just about anything within it. Areas that are excessively featureless or are so tree-crowded as to starve me of good overlooks end up being the areas I have problems with. I was also always fascinated by maps, even as a little kid. They were satisfying... and looking back on it, I think it was because they gave me a tool to validate these mental 3-space maps I was subconsciously building.
What's all this got to do with the tool at hand? Well... it's not just neat, it's downright gratifying. I've spent the last half-day just flying through it, re-verifying places I've been all over California, gaining viewpoints that are either difficult or impossible to get to... but that can reinforce my sense of space. I keep finding moments of Oh! So *that's* the relationship between that ridge and the hill beyond, and other strangely satisfying moments. Plugging in the last piece of a topological puzzle feels cool.
Example: There is a 17 mile road-loop behind my house, called Hicks Road. It starts almost immediately behind my block, and leaps into a set of twists and elevation changes through almost completely undeveloped areas. I takes less than 5 minutes to go from my front door to what looks like some remote mountain landscape -- and that keeps me sane. I don't do urban life well, folks. I've lived successfully in the tip of overpopulated San Jose by living right against the base of un-populated hills. I can trick my brain into thinking I'm out in open territory, just by looking to the south. When I discovered it, I would ride this loop at least once a week in the van. Now that I'm an avid two-wheeler, I ride it almost every other day. It's my 'long way home' from work, and it helps keep me mellow.
At the top of the Hicks Loop is a turnoff that winds up the hill until thou shalt not cross closed gates stop you. This area is called Sierra Azul, and a mile-long hike ends up on Bald Mountain, overlooking the whole of the south bay. I've gone up there regularly to view sunsets and sunrises, to take pictures and to just think. Part of me knows something special will happen there someday, be it an ending or a beginning... so I return now and then to see if it's time. Each time has been a satisfying break from generic suburban life. The only thing that bugged me about it was that it was a minor topological mystery: I could get up there -- and see the valley floor from it -- but I couldn't find that hill when looking back up from the valley below! For the last 5 years or so this has been a background grump I was determined to solve, but never got around to doing the GPS-and-compass sighting necessary to get it done.
With this new tool, I simply followed the road on the arial photographs to the parking point, and then to Bald Mountain itself. Turn on the DEMs (the altitude component) and warp the pictures into 3D... tilt the landscape down. Suddenly... it all made perfect sense. A tiny ridge-wrinkle hides the sub-summit that is Bald from my house and other familiar downslope viewpoints... and the places it COULD be seen from, the shape of the hill is easily masked by the larger ridge behind it, known as Umunhum... a peak I could easily identify from anywhere. In the image below... the pushpin in the lower right is my house. Bald is pointed at with an arrow. It was only at this mile-high computer generated vantage point that the position became so clear.
It was like finding the set of spare keys you just knew were sitting around the house somewhere but you could never quite locate. A minor thing, but it causes a feeling of 'Yeah, got it, finally." My mental map of the place feels much more complete. I'll go up there tomorrow after work (or maybe Saturday if I can convince freinds to see a movie friday night) and see how the place feels with a proper set of bearings in my head.
To abuse the little tool s'more, I translated forwards a few thousand meters and up a little bit, to give a downward view of a chunk of the Hicks Loop. I've highlighted the turnout and the stop-gate where one must park to hike up there. The road follows the little resevoir at the bottom of the picture, and disappears off to the left, to loop back up Almaden and back towards home. If you click-through to the original image (two clicks), it's much bigger. Try it sometime -- the photorealistic nature is just amazing. It's just a satellite-picture stretched over a mesh, but it's clean. Now imagine this pic rotating/zooming/panning in real time. It's a blast.
Example 2: Laguna Seca.
In my earlier post, I talked about camping on Fox Hill. Here's the satellite/DEM map of the track to give my journal-reading friends the 'overview' shot. I labelled Fox Hill. The white "X" is where we camped.
Compare that computer-graphic shot to this real shot below. In the CG one, the white dot is where I stood, and the arrow shows the direction I was facing. I pointed out the tire bridge, as it's a visible landmark in the shot below. The pond (in the center) is blue instead of green, due to the angle of the camera, and it's covered in white Vendor tents, but it's the same place:
This just makes me bounce and get hyper like a sugar-soaked child with attention disorder. Had I only the M4d Sk1llz to code up a game that would use this as its engine. Still, sheesh... getting excited about a map tool? I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Deeeyang, I'm such a geek.
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Date: 2002-07-19 04:38 am (UTC)*snuggers!*
devi
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Date: 2002-07-19 10:35 am (UTC)