Tele Atlas, Camera, Camera on the street, who....

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May. 31st, 2007 | 03:37 pm

Some part of me believes I should be spooked out that a van from New
Hampshire (Live free or die?) is video taping our streets...

I am not though, since its more fun to look and see the top 15 best
found photos on Google.

The photos come from my cell phone. I saw the van while out riding my
bike to meet up with a friend for lunch. Of course, after looking at
some of the photos found on Google, I am wondering if
Google would consider requests.

I am betting the path around Greenlake is pretty nice this time of
year...

UPDATE Here is a link to the Engadget mention of the Google vans:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/31/the-google-street-view-vehicle-revealed/

UPDATE

Hi Brian, I found your LJ post through boingboing. I don't have a LJ account and didn't see the need to sign up to make a comment. Anyway, I found the SICK device online. It's a "Volume Measurement System". I have no idea what that means, but here it is.

http://www.sick.com/gus/products/product_catalogs/automatic_identification/lasermeasurementsystemsvolumemeasurement/vms200/en.html

Doug Pichler
Austin, TX


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Comments {10}

Jamz

(no subject)

from: [info]woggie
date: May. 31st, 2007 11:33 pm (UTC)
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What object is it which sits on their roof which clearly describes itself as "sick"? :)

Can it be made well..?

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Brian "Krow" Aker

(no subject)

from: [info]krow
date: Jun. 1st, 2007 02:57 am (UTC)
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Not sure... I couldn't figure that out from the outside.

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Jamz

(no subject)

from: [info]woggie
date: Jun. 1st, 2007 09:44 pm (UTC)
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I was guessing it was one or more of the cameras, but I could also be mistaken.

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SICK (UK) Ltd,

from: [info]richardkirk
date: Jun. 1st, 2007 06:55 pm (UTC)
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There is a factory unit in St Albans with SICK in big letters on the side just like this. I think the parent company is German. Have a look at...
http://www.sick.co.uk/guk/en.html
Cheers.
Richard

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Jamz

Re: SICK (UK) Ltd,

from: [info]woggie
date: Jun. 1st, 2007 10:44 pm (UTC)
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So maybe the Sick box is some sort of GPS unit.

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Canard Pear Noodle

(no subject)

from: [info]fancycwabs
date: Jun. 1st, 2007 06:39 pm (UTC)
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Got here from Boing Boing--wanted to note that Sick is the name of a German Electronics Manufacturer. They make photoeyes, bar code readers, electronic dimensioning equipment, and so on.

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SICK LADAR/LIDAR distance measuring device

from: [info]kleinbottler
date: Jun. 1st, 2007 10:14 pm (UTC)
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That device labeled "SICK" is a laser distance measuring device, which finds the distance to an object by bouncing laser light from it. This system (called LADAR and sometimes LIDAR) scans up and down to an accuracy of about 5 to 20cm.

Those cameras only bring images into the collecting computer. The Sick LADAR gizmo can produce an array of distances to each point around the car.

Ideally, with stereo cameras, you could also accomplish this using thos imaging cameras, but doing this in real time is an image processing challenge. On the other hand, the Sick Ladar system goes much slower than stereo cameras, and can be fooled by objects which are invisible to its near-infrared scanner.

The Sick Ladar/Lidar system was used by entrants in the Darpa robotic vehicle challenge.

See http://dtsn.darpa.mil/ibb/Grandc_Archive/topicarchive.asp?topic_id=1593

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Teleatlas

from: [info]mlh77
date: Jun. 1st, 2007 09:23 pm (UTC)
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I saw a tv programme about this the other day - they work for a firm that produces maps for satnav - the cameras are so they can read the roadsigns and see the lay of the land when it comes to the processing...
In Europe, Teleatlas use big camper vans though :-)

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Jamz

(no subject)

from: [info]woggie
date: Jun. 2nd, 2007 02:53 pm (UTC)
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So maybe this vehicle makes the images that appear (for example) in Street View in Google Maps.

When Seattle Street Views becomes available, maybe we should be looking for images of Brian. :)

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Brian "Krow" Aker

(no subject)

from: [info]krow
date: Jun. 2nd, 2007 03:51 pm (UTC)
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Ha! I would suspect if I was found it would either be walking to or from the Victrola or driving to Climbing...
Or the airport...

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