Microsoft Seadragon: Point to an Image and Process - 3D Tube Map

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Microsoft have revamped their http://www.seadragon.com/ service and its quite impressive in terms of sharing high resolution images online.

Below is our 10000x5000 pixel render of the 3D London Tube Map - it enables you to zoom in enough to see the parts we need to fix :)



If you have Silverlight installed it should zoom in nice and smoothly, if not it should use Ajax so we would be interested in any thoughts on its performance.

Set up is as easy as pointing the service at a online image, it then processes it and makes it as simple as adding in a one line script to a blog post / web page. We are not sure however know where it stores the images so if its a photograph you don't want sitting on a Microsoft server somewhere you might want to use other alternatives - such as our Image Cutter :)

A London Day: Timelapse

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London Day by UrbanTick uses timelapse techniques to follow the activities of a day in the UK capital. Interestingly the clips were shot with a Canon G9, using the CHDK, and two iPhones a 2G and a 3GS.

London Day from urbanTick on Vimeo.

Music by Summer Hill by DANGSTA on akmusicvideo.com. For full details see the UrbanTick site.

Call for Papers: 14th International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling in Hong Kong

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The 14th International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling will be held in Hong Kong 26-28th May 2010. As co-chair of the Geographical Visualization and Virtual Reality Working Group we will be organising sessions on the visualization of spatial data.

Abstracts are due 31st August 200, we encourage you to submit an abstract/paper and join us in Hong Kong in 2010.

Important Dates:

August 31st 2009 - Deadline for abstract
September 30th 2009 - Notification of accepted abstracts
November 30th 2009 - Deadline for full paper
January 15th 2010 - Notification of full paper acceptance
February 15th 2010 - Deadline for revised full paper
May 26th-28th 2010 - Symposium

For further information on the symposium visit http://isgis.lsgi.polyu.edu.hk

Sketchlife: SketchUp to Second Life

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We have never quite understood why Second Life is such a closed shop when it comes down to importing models - compared to systems such as Sketch Worlds, which we covered earlier this week, it has been a positively painful process to get any model in the environment. However, Sketchlife is a step in a right direction, allowing models to be built in SketchUp and import to Second Life.

The video below details a simple model of the words "Hello World" being built and uploaded using Sketchlife tools. It demonstrates the process: press "Export", copy and paste the model key, drop the textures into the box, and, finally, copy and paste the build key. The process is the same for all models:



Written by Evgeni Sergeev the plugin for SketchUp is available for free, take a look at http://vrshed.com/sketchlife/ for details and download.

Nonbeing: A Hybernating City

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Nonbeing is a short film directed /edited/shot by Michel Mazza a professional composer and producer with music by MULCH from the album Lunar Plexus.

It's a study on a hybernating city, playing with the rhythms of architecture,clouds and light, shot entirely with a hv30 in the coastal town of Villa Gesell, Buenos Aires, Argentina during the winter of 2009 once the beach town went to sleep after a busy summer...

NONBEING from MICHEL MAZZA on Vimeo.

We really like it, we will have another post looking at the rhythms of the city, this time by urbantick, tomorrow....

EyePet PS3 & AR Toolkit for Flash

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While not 'urban' this is caught our eye as a neat augmented reality application running on the PS3 via the PlayStation Eye. With the addition of a "magic card," players will be able to play with a virtual monkey that lives in augmented reality.

In many ways this could be done with ARTAG - see our Tutorial - Quick and Easy Augmented Reality from SketchUp/3DMax etc - but on a PS3 it takes it to the next level. Note the use of the trampoline towards the end of the clip and the nice use of shadows:


EyePet is due for a global release around the end of the year. It would be interesting to know if its possible to do something similar with ARTAG and Flash using the newly released AR flash library (see Hack A Day):



It is almost tempting to fire up our webcam and take a look, sadly we are interviewing for the rest of the day....

Building Rome in a Day: A 3D City via Flickr

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With the recent rise in popularity of Internet photo sharing sites like Flickr and Google Images, community photo collections (CPCs) have emerged as a powerful new type of image dataset for computer vision and computer graphics research. With billions of such photos now online, these collections should enable huge opportunities in 3D, visualization, image-based rendering, recognition, and other research areas. The Graphics and Imaging Laboratory of the University of Washington's Department of Computer Science and Engineering are at the cutting edge of research based around crowd sourced imagery and 3D modelling.

In their project 'Bulding Rome in a Day' the group considered the problem of reconstructing entire cities from images harvested from the web. The aim is to build a parallel distributed system that downloads all the images associated with a city from Flickr.com. After downloading, it matches these images to find common points and uses this information to compute the three dimensional structure of the city and the pose of the cameras that captured these images. All this to be done in a day.

The movie below details thier sample work using 58,000 images of Dubrovnik sourced from Flickr:



If you do anything today check out their Building Rome in a Day page for further movies and details.

Sketch Worlds: 3D Max and SketchUp Virtual World for Architectural Visualization

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SketchWorlds, based on RealXtend, is unique - a virtual world with architectural and property based visualisation at the heart of the system.

Of note is the ability to import direct from 3DMax and SketchUp allowing for quick and easy modelling within a virtual environment, something that is almost impossible with any degree of detail in other systems such as Second Life.

The movie below details the in-world editor, note the dynamic lighting:



As regular readers will know we have a bit of thing with HDR, SketchWorlds allows real time HDR rendering:



Take a look at http://sketchworlds.com/ for full details, from a first look it seems promising.

Win a Copy of Virtual Geographic Environments

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We have just received our copies of Virtual Geographic Environments, the book has contributions by Jack Dangermond, Mike Goodchild, Mike Batty, Hui Lin and many others (including ourselves) and provides a unique guide to the current state of play in GIS and virtual environs.

The book is of note as its about to be taken on by ESRI so this current print will be a limited edition and we have two copies to give away.

All you have to do is email us the answer to this simple question:

What plugin was used in 3D Max to create the book cover?

Answers need to be received by 5pm GMT Friday 31st July.

Hint - you can find the answer here on digital urban.

Virtual geographic environments are essential to using GIS in design. For example, before a design for a city or landscape can be produced, an environment must be created through GIS. This is then fashioned into a form where users have access to it, first to enhance their understanding through exploration, and then to enable them to change various components in the effort to solve problems that can realize better designs. Only now, through the development of virtual city models and through new ways of enabling users to interact with geographic information using new screen technologies, is the point being approached where design is possible.

Virtual Geographic Environments, edited by Hui Lin and Michael Batty, collects key papers that define the current momentum in GIS and "virtual geographies." In some sense, such environments are the natural consequence of linking GIS to other technologies that deal with information, design, and service provision, and this will undoubtedly grow as it becomes ever easier to integrate diverse software and data across the Web.

The idea that geographic information can be both collected and made available through Web-based services, using Web 2.0 technologies that network many millions of people together, has formed a major research thrust in software development over the last decade.

The numerous contributions by leading members of the geospatial community to Virtual Geographic Environments illustrate the cutting edge of GIScience, as well as new applications of GIS with the processing and delivery of geographic information through the Web and handheld devices, forming two major directions to these developments. But the notion that these Web-based systems can be used to collect information of a voluntary kind through methods of crowd sourcing is also an exciting and widely unanticipated development that is driving the field. As these services gain ground, new business models are being invented that merge proprietary and nonproprietary systems and novel ways of integrating diverse software through many different processes of software development from map hacks to open system architectures.

Virtual Geographic Environments is published by Science Press, China (www.sciencep.com), 350 pages, hardcover. For more information, contact the responsible editors Peng Shengchao and Guan Yan, Science Press (e-mail: guanyan@mail.sciencep.com).

Pachube: Realtime Sensor Data Linked to SketchUp

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Pachube is a web service available at http://www.pachube.com that enables you to connect, tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices, buildings and environments around the world.

The key aim is to facilitate interaction between remote environments, both physical and virtual. If you have not heard of Pachube before it is well worth taking a look at their site and the exploring the concept which is a little bit like YouTube, except that, rather than sharing videos, Pachube enables people to monitor and share real time environmental data from sensors that are connected to the internet.

The linkages can now be visualised via SketchUp, the incoming data can be used to generate or modulate a 3D model of a building or environment, and enables sophisticated design-decisions that are based on actual (and not simulated) sensor and environment data. Possible uses include designing interactive façades, undertaking post-occupancy evaluation (which is where you evaluate how well the design performs) and sensor-based form generation:



The demo details real-time water, gas and energy usage from a building management system being graphed on top of a model of the building. Although in this demo the data is merely driving simple scalar transformations to visualize energy usage, the real potential of the plug-in is to serve Pachube data to real-world design tools to directly inform design decisions in a much more sophisticated way.

Download the plug-in and see the tutorial here: http://community.pachube.com/sketchup

Picked up via UrbanTick

Google Earth API Premiere: New Classroom Geography

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Roundarch has developed new geography software for NYSTROM Herff Jones Education Division, the makers of maps, atlas and globes for schools. Called StrataLogica, the web-based software utilizes the Google Earth API Premier platform from the cloud to create an interactive 3-D experience for classrooms.

The movie below provides an intriguing demo:



In our day we had to do with 'books' and the odd 'atlas' shared between groups of four, how times have changed in the teaching of geography...

Find out about more about the system via http://www.nystromnet.com

CityEngine to Unity: Rapid City Modelling for Game Engines

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The CityEngine is a unique professional tool for creating, visualisating and exporting cityscapes. As such it is of notable use to the games industry with a quick and easy route into either 3D Max or the Unity Engine.

Unity supports a number of input formats, allowing for direct integration with the CityEngine with the following features:

* Direct model export to Unity via Autodesk FBX including textures - thus, generate'n'play your environment with a few clicks only.
* Arbitrary mesh granularities such as per-material groups or editable scene nodes are possible thanks to CityEngine's various export options such as "merge by material" or "single node objects". Most of these options are supported by Unity.
* Collider meshes (almost) for free: The CityEngine's CGA shape grammar is a perfect tool to generate and control low-res collider meshes in Unity (and they always adapt to model iterations).

The video below demonstrates a CityEngine-Unity-workflow.



It is impressive how easy it is nowadays to create buildings/cities and visualise them direct via a game engine...

See http://www.procedural.com/ for full details.

Simurban and Mycosm: New Virtual World and Urban Viz Systems

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We have just come across 'SIMMERSION' a company with two interesting products in development. The first is Simurban, 3D visualisation3D simulation software aimed at creating, viewing and allowing the user to interact with accurate and realistic models of any built environment.

The movie below details Simurban running in realtime:

Of particular note however is Mycosm a new virtual world sytem under development - requests are currently open for private beta testers. The Mycosm 3D engine is aimed to give 3D artists and gamers the power and performance they need while delivering rich photo realistic imagery in a simple and familiar interface.

Mycosm allows you to create your own unique online virtual world by using intuitive tools and importing high-quality 3D content. You can then share it with the community online, play games, share media, talk with friends and make money.

From the screen shots Mycosm is one to watch - take a look at http://www.mycosm.com/ to sign up for the private beta.

Traffic in the Cloud: Bing Maps Silverlight and DeepEarth

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Soul Solutions have announced their project launch for the Azure #newcloudapp international competition. Called Traffic in the Cloud it provides a rich interactive mapping twist on public webcams throughout the world.

The interface and fullscreen results are impressive, for those without Silverlight installed we have recorded a quick look movie below:



Head over to the Soul Solutions blog for full details on the set up and how to add your own cameras.

Introducing Future Internet an International, Open Access, Journal

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I have just finished writing the opening two page editorial for Future Internet and thought it would be a good chance to introduce it on the blog.

As Editor-in-Chief, it is a pleasure to introduce the new international, open access journal on Internet technologies and the information society, published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI): Future Internet (ISSN 1999-5903).

Subject areas covered include:

• Internet-related topics, including applications
• information society
• computer science
• indexing and search engines and technologies
• semantic web, markup, RDF
• web services
• file formats, protocols
• virtual and mirror worlds
• e-Government
• e-Education and e-Learning
• emerging topics.

Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. Therefore, there is no restriction on the length of the papers or the use of color figures.

Of note is the quick turn around on review and instant publication once accepted.

You can read the opening editorial The Future Internet
Future Internet 2009, 1(1), 1-2; doi:10.3390/fi1010001 and the first paper published:

Article: Learning Space Mashups: Combining Web 2.0 Tools to Create Collaborative and Reflective Learning Spaces Future Internet 2009, 1(1), 3-13; doi:10.3390/fi1010003 - published online 13 July 2009.

You can keep up to date with the latest papers or we encourage you to submit your own via http://www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet

Design Camp: Urban Windows

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Ryan Dewitt is currently teaching animation and video production at Design Camp 2009 where the focus of the animation/video discipline is to expose students to the principles of animation by creating a short artistic stop-motion movie with music.

One of the projects is entitled 'Urban Windows' aimed at simulating people interacting in an urban building. Sixteen videos are shot independently then combined in post to form one cohesive music video - we think its a neat idea and the outcomes are first class :



Take a look at the Urban Windows page for more examples and how it was made, it is also well worth taking a look at the main Design Camp site.

Miniature City featuring Vividblaze "Tight Rope (Floor Mix)"

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Many of the tilt-shift/timelapse movies we have featured here on digital urban have been created using a fake title shift effect. The movie below by mockmoon uses a ARAX 2.8/35mm Tilt & Shift lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DmarkII:

Movie by mockmoon : http://mockmoon.sblo.jp with music by vividblaze : http://www.vividblaze.com

The clip has inspired us to get out the Canon G9, fire off an email to the people behind UrbanTick and sort out our own tutorial and timelapse imagery, more on that in future posts...

IGN's Top 10 Game Engines

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IGN has just published an interesting article on the top 10 game engines -

Webster's Dictionary defines a 'game engine' as 'the word you've entered isn't in the dictionary,' but if it were to define it, it would probably explain that a game engine is used as the overall architecture to develop and run a game – it gives developers tools to create the disparate elements of a videogame and then pull them together to create a functioning whole. From the renderer to the physics system, sound architecture, scripting, AI and networking, game engines either natively power every aspect of a game, or they allow other specialised middleware to slot into the game's framework. In any case, game engines are the workhorses of modern videogame development.

The list comprises the top commercial engines, many of which come with a 'sandbox' mode when purchasing a game allowing one to add in architectural, geographic and urban content to visualize.

Take a look at the Top 10 Game Engines at IGN for a full run down.

Panorama Ball Vision: Spherical Display

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The movie below details a spherical display under the name of Panorama Ball Vision:

The display seems suitable for use with Google Earth or any panoramic based imagery, we don't think the masks in the picture are due to any harmful output from the actual device...

See http://zeroworks.jp/index.html for more images.

Unity: Project Double Zero

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Project double zero is a FPS running in the Unity game engine, the project is being developed collaboratively by several interested parties. The driving force behind the project is Thomas P who is documenting progress via YouTube and their blog. The first movie below provides an insight into developing a level in Cinema 4D and then importing into Unity. The C4D development is broadly similar to 3DMax/Maya/Blender techniques:



The second movie details the latest progress:



Our own work with Unity is on going, below details progress to date:



Obviously with architecture, agent based modelling, urban design and planning based visualisation we have had to 'lose the gun' aspect of a FPS but in terms of development and concepts the work is similar. We should have a release out the door in the next few weeks...

See http://blog.projectdoublezero.com/ for full details on Project Double Zero, its one to watch...

The "Nations Experience Tower" Project, Dubai Skyscraper

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The Nations Experience Tower is a Dubai based skyscraper project exploring the idea of linking the globe together via a net of real time immersive reality. A number of capsules will be spread throughout the world creating a net of real time immersive reality which would be linked into each capsule in realtime . Its an interesting concept, similar in some ways to the link up between London and New York earlier this year, but on a much grander scale.

The movie below illustrates the skyscraper and the project:


By enabling a close contact between an array of people from distant locations and different backgrounds, the proposal aims to celebrate the gathering of nations on common objectives, emphasizing the importance of distinct identities and global diversity.

The project was developed by Hype Studio for the XI ThyssenKrupp Architecture Award Tall Emblem Structure in Zaabeel Park - Dubai.

See more at www.hypestudio.com.br

HDR Meets After Effects

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High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography brings out the full vibrancy of urban images. Brian Przypek has combined HDR with After Effects with notable results:

HDR Meets After Effects from Brian Przypek on Vimeo.

Brian is a Cinematographer, Photographer, HDR Enthusiast, check out red-shooter.com for more of his work.

City Timelapse: Tokyo and Yokohama

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Timelapse imagery provides a unique way to portray to the city, carrying on in our series of timelapse city movies we feature Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan:



Created by Aqua Geo Graphic it almost draws you into the city, especially the shots of Tokyo Tower.

Urban Television: This is My City

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This is My City - Trailer from Tim Kafalas on Vimeo.

Young travelers don’t look for guidebooks or gift shops to help discover a new city, they look for adventure. And a little mischief. Every week hosts Tim and Thomas of This if My City find a stranger to give them their take on their town. Together, they film everything -- and they don’t say “no” to anything

This is my City is a show about what hometowns mean to the people who live in them, brought to you in the most personal way. It’s not about seeing the sights, it’s about seeing the soul.

In many ways we here at digital urban think this is how the city should be seen and covered, so far the team have covered Philadelphia and Reykjavik - take a look at their channel on Vimeo and http://www.thisismycity.tv/

Augmented Reality with the Sauerbraten Game Engine

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In the clip above the Sauerbraten game engine is used to render a game map in real time onto a video feed. The game is run in multiplayer mode and one of the characters can be seen walking around.

We especially like the concept of holding a multi-player game map in your hand, to such an extent that we have suddenly got an urge to hold all of those little people from Populous in our hands via AR...

Take a look at the AliveTeam channel on YouTube for more movies.

Chicago Architecture Foundation: Chicago Model City

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How does a city as vast and complex as Chicago take shape? What are the consequences—intended and unintended—of urban planning? What challenges do planners face?

Beyond its reputation as a global metropolis featuring world-renowned architecture, Chicago enjoys special status: it is a model for understanding all cities. Enormous size, diverse population, booming industry, and complex infrastructure have made Chicago emblematic of modern life. Urban planners, sociologists, and historians have studied Chicago more than any other American city.

In recognition of the Plan of Chicago centennial celebration, the Chicago Architecture Foundation presents a new exhibition, Chicago Model City. The exhibition considers the philosophy of “thinking big” by examining historic and contemporary urban plans of all sizes. Chicago Model City includes photographs, maps, videos, digital visualizations, and a large-scale model of Chicago’s Loop—designed to be a permanent attraction and centerpiece of CAF.

Part of the installation is a new 'model' of Chicago, comprising of over 1000 buildings - the clip from NBC 5 provides a glimpse:

The Chicago Model City exhibit encompasses five thematic sections.

Global City examines how transportation networks form the basis of Chicago’s econo
mic wealth and innovative potential. The exhibition looks at the development and impact of O’Hare Airport and freight railways.

Connected City investigates how Chicagoans’ ability to circulate through their region encourages urban growth, drives real estate development, and contributes to quality of life. Visitors will also see how highways and Chicago's famous "L" played an important part in Chicago's development.

Green City focuses on the impact of urbanization on the health of citizens and the region.The exhibition studies programs such as Mayor Daley’s Chicago Climate Action Plan and Jane Addams’ public heath initiatives.

Beautiful City features Chicagoans’ efforts to build an efficient, pleasurable, and moral environment through beautification. Burnham and Bennett’s 1909 Plan of Chicago is explored.

New City investigates the belief that demolition and rebuilding will solve urban ills. CMC examines the IIT campus and its surrounding neighborhood—which the university and other institutions “renewed” beginning in the 1940s.

Take a look at http://www.architecture.org/ for more info.

Architectural Visualization: LoftStudios

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Architectural Animation from Alex Kadrileyev on Vimeo.

LoftStudio is a Finnish based architectural, planning and urban design visualization company. They have just released the video above on Vimeo and we thought it worthy of a post - we especially like the internal visualization and the last few scenes.

http://www.loftstudio.fi/

TwitARound: Augmented Reality Tweets in the City

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TwittARound is an augmented reality Twitter viewer on the iPhone 3GS. It shows live tweets around your location on the horizon with the video see-through effect allowing you to see where the tweet comes from and how far it is away:



Download Squad, where we picked it up from, didn't seem to see the point, we think its an incredably intriguing view of the cityscape - to be able to pan around a area and see the live tweets is perhaps a glimpse into the 'X-Ray Datascape' city of the future?

See TwittARound for more info.

PhoneGap: Open Source Development Tool for iPhone/Android and Blackberry

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Yesterday we posted our Live London Weather 'semi app' for mobile devices. This got us thinking that there must be an easy way to convert a ready to go html/javascript page into an fully functional app that can take advantage of the full phone features such as GPS etc.

It turns out that PhoneGap maybe the answer, PhoneGap allows web developers who want to build mobile applications in HTML and JavaScript while still taking advantage of the core features in the iPhone, Android and Blackberry SDKs.

For a quick introduction to PhoneGap, watch this three-minute video:



It certainly looks interesting, head over to http://phonegap.com/ for full details and download. We will post any thoughts as and when we get something running...

PhotoSketch Launched with 30 Day Trial

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PhotoSketch by Brainstorm Technology LLC is now available with a fully functional 30 day trial version available for download. PhotoSketch is a Google SketchUp plugin that enables the user to model 3D urban structures directly from photographs. It is aimed at architects, designers, and entertainment content creators allowing a new approach to create lightweight 3D models of existing buildings.



Sure you can model direct onto photographs already in SketchUp and indeed that is the basis of a lot of the models currently seen in Google Earth. Where Photoshetch seems to differ is the ability to determine camera positions and extract and match geometric features derived from a collection of overlapping photos of an urban scene.

Head over to http://www.brainstormllc.com/ for the download.

iPhone Live Weather App

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For various reasons we have been away from the blog for the last few days, which although annoying, has given us enough spare time to knock up a live weather 'app' for the iPhone.

While not strictly an app in its purest sense, using various meta tags it runs full screen in Safari once added to the home screen and includes an icon, making it as close to an app as you can get. Indeed using meta tags is a quick and easy way to get the 'app look' while not having to go through the iTunes store.

The data refreshes every 3 seconds via our offices in Central London, the weather station is located on a roof just off Tottenham Court Road.

Simply go to http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/weather/iphone.html and then click the + icon to 'Add to Home Screen' on your phone. The page is formatted to work with the majority of mobile devices so if your not an iPhone user you can still get the live updates.

At the moment only London is available but if there is interest we will make the template available for other users and locations :)

Posts?

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Apologies for the last few days without posts, we have been unexpectedly out of town.

We will be back up and running tomorrow....

Lecturer A in Geographic Information Science (GIS): Birkbeck

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We have close ties with Geographic Information Science group over at Birbeck College, they are a great group and have just put a call out for a new lecturer:

School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy

Department of Geography, Environment & Development Studies

Lecturer A in Geographic Information Science (GIS) Ref: 10275

Full time position, 3 years fixed term contract in the first instance

The Department of Geography is seeking to appoint a Lecturer in Geographic Information Science. We are looking for well-qualified candidates who have experience with GIS and competence in spatial statistics. An interest in programming is also desirable.

You should have a good first degree and a PhD in a relevant area, or be close to completion. Evidence of published research or exceptional potential is essential to this role. Teaching experience at degree level is also desirable.

Salary range: £33,501 rising to £38,376 per annum, inclusive of London Allowance.

This job is full time and fixed term for three years. The salary quoted above is inclusive of London allowance. The initial salary award will be dependent on the skills and experience of the successful applicant. The appointment may be subject to a probationary period of up to three years. Birkbeck also provides a generous final salary pension scheme, 31 days paid leave, flexible working arrangements and other great benefits.

The closing date for completed applications is Tuesday 22 July 2009.

Interviews are due to be held in the week commencing 3 August 2009.

Click here to apply for this post (Search using Ref No. 10275)

Birkbeck is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all candidates irrespective of gender, ethnicity, age, disability, religious belief and sexual preference.