The image is on our Flickr stream should anyone wish to download it - also, if anyone is interested we can render out various resolutions for wallpapers etc.
2009-11-30
Tube Map - Now with Docklands
We have spent the last couple of hours adding the docklands light railway to our Geographic London Tube Map for use in a paper:
2009-11-27
ProFORMA: 3D Models via a Standard Webcam
We are a couple of days late to the table on this one due to various reasons, work, moving flat, the failure of the British telecoms system to sort out any sort of broadband connection. However, this is of note as it allows a 3D model to be constructed using a standard webcam Qi Pan Gerhard Reitmayr and Tom Drummond of the Machine Intelligence Laboratories, Department of Engineering, Cambridge University.
The YouTube clip below explains all:
Take a look at the ProFORMA: Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition page for more information, they also have a paper online on the subject which is well worth a read.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in, our broadband is being sorted so the posts will be back to normal soon...
Update - Engadget has just reported that Qi plans to release a Linux-based demo to the general public, and a Windows version shortly thereafter. - Update.
The YouTube clip below explains all:
Take a look at the ProFORMA: Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition page for more information, they also have a paper online on the subject which is well worth a read.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in, our broadband is being sorted so the posts will be back to normal soon...
Update - Engadget has just reported that Qi plans to release a Linux-based demo to the general public, and a Windows version shortly thereafter. - Update.
2009-11-26
3D Mash-Up Maps let you 'Edit' the World
This weeks NewScientist has a good article entilted '3D mash-up maps let you 'edit' the world. Written by Colin Barras it notes that armchair explorers who soar over 3D cityscapes on their computer may be used to the idea of maps with an extra dimension. But they are now getting accurate enough to offer much more than a preview of your next holiday destination. Accurate, large-scale 3D maps could soon change the way we design, manage and relate to our urban environments.'Colin dropped us a email here at digital urban, our thoughts are included in the article - you can read the online version via the NewScientist website.
2009-11-24
Clone Wars Promo: Flame and 3D Max
The clip below was produced by Paul Gill for Sky Television:
Paul notes that Flame was used to composite the movie with a sneaky bit of his own 3D included. The HD helipad in the city shot was modeled and lit by Paul in 3D Max with baked lighting for import into Flame.
He also sneaked in a Lucas trademark wipe...
Clone Wars Promo from paul gill on Vimeo.
Paul notes that Flame was used to composite the movie with a sneaky bit of his own 3D included. The HD helipad in the city shot was modeled and lit by Paul in 3D Max with baked lighting for import into Flame.
He also sneaked in a Lucas trademark wipe...
2009-11-19
Can Weblogs and Microblogs Change Traditional Scientific Writing?
The papers are coming thick and fast at the Future Internet Journal - the latest paper describes a follow up Web 2.0 approach to a technology enhanced master course for students of Graz University of Technology.
The lecture “Social Aspects of Information Technology” has a long tradition for using new didactical scenarios as well as modern e-Learning technologies. After using a blogosphere one year ago, this year microblog channels helped to expand the traditional lecture. Students choose (on a voluntary basis) whether they want to participate in a blogging/microblogging group instead of using conventional methods called Scientific Writer/Scientific Reviewer. This study addresses the question whether this method can change the learning outcome into a more reflective one. Furthermore, peer-reviewing groups judge the quality of essays and blog contributions. In this paper we examine if microblogging can be an appropriate technology for assisting the process. This publication comes to the conclusion that an amazing potential and a new way to work with information is opened when using microblogging. Students seem to be more engaged, reflective and critical in as much as they presented much more personal statements and opinions than years before.
The paper is an interesting look at Web 2.0 and blogging in academia - something we know a little about having come under notable criticism a few years ago for putting everything we do in a blog. Personally, the Future Internet Journal is indicative of these changes with fast turn around times and publication in terms of weeks rather than months/years.
You can read/download the full paper via the Future Internet Journal site.
The lecture “Social Aspects of Information Technology” has a long tradition for using new didactical scenarios as well as modern e-Learning technologies. After using a blogosphere one year ago, this year microblog channels helped to expand the traditional lecture. Students choose (on a voluntary basis) whether they want to participate in a blogging/microblogging group instead of using conventional methods called Scientific Writer/Scientific Reviewer. This study addresses the question whether this method can change the learning outcome into a more reflective one. Furthermore, peer-reviewing groups judge the quality of essays and blog contributions. In this paper we examine if microblogging can be an appropriate technology for assisting the process. This publication comes to the conclusion that an amazing potential and a new way to work with information is opened when using microblogging. Students seem to be more engaged, reflective and critical in as much as they presented much more personal statements and opinions than years before.
The paper is an interesting look at Web 2.0 and blogging in academia - something we know a little about having come under notable criticism a few years ago for putting everything we do in a blog. Personally, the Future Internet Journal is indicative of these changes with fast turn around times and publication in terms of weeks rather than months/years.
You can read/download the full paper via the Future Internet Journal site.
2009-11-18
The Sentient City Survival Kit
The Sentient City Survival Kit is a design research project that explores the social, cultural and political implications of ubiquitous computing for urban environments. It takes as its method the design, fabrication and presentation of a collection of artifacts, spaces and media for survival in the near-future sentient city.
- edit, video is now back, via YouTube -
As computing leaves the desktop and spills out onto the sidewalks, streets and public spaces of the city, information processing becomes embedded in and distributed throughout the material fabric of everyday urban space. Pervasive/ubiquitous computing evangelists herald a coming age of urban information systems capable of sensing and responding to the events and activities transpiring around them. Imbued with the capacity to remember, correlate and anticipate, this “sentient” city is envisioned as being capable of reflexively monitoring our behavior within it and becoming an active agent in the organization of our daily lives.
The movie above is a work in progress of an intriguing project by Mark Shepard documenting the development of a set of artifacts, spaces and media for survival in the near-future sentient city.
Of note is the view that 'many are likely to protest when they are denied passage through a subway turnstile because the system “senses” that their purchasing habits, mobility patterns and current galvanic skin response (GSR) reading happens to match the profile of a terrorist'. Personally we quite like the idea of a Sentient City, but perhaps that's just us, head over to http://survival.sentientcity.net/ for more thoughts and views.
- edit, video is now back, via YouTube -
As computing leaves the desktop and spills out onto the sidewalks, streets and public spaces of the city, information processing becomes embedded in and distributed throughout the material fabric of everyday urban space. Pervasive/ubiquitous computing evangelists herald a coming age of urban information systems capable of sensing and responding to the events and activities transpiring around them. Imbued with the capacity to remember, correlate and anticipate, this “sentient” city is envisioned as being capable of reflexively monitoring our behavior within it and becoming an active agent in the organization of our daily lives.
The movie above is a work in progress of an intriguing project by Mark Shepard documenting the development of a set of artifacts, spaces and media for survival in the near-future sentient city.
Of note is the view that 'many are likely to protest when they are denied passage through a subway turnstile because the system “senses” that their purchasing habits, mobility patterns and current galvanic skin response (GSR) reading happens to match the profile of a terrorist'. Personally we quite like the idea of a Sentient City, but perhaps that's just us, head over to http://survival.sentientcity.net/ for more thoughts and views.
Valencia, Spain 3D City
The 3D cities roll out continues at increasing pace - the movie below captured by YourWorldIn3D details Valencia, Spain:
Its certainly impressive, Google's increasingly strong focus on geographic information is of note...
Its certainly impressive, Google's increasingly strong focus on geographic information is of note...
2009-11-16
Metropolis Art Prize: Drift
The Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize now has over 450 individual entries from five continents. Launched in September 2009 the Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize sought videos, of no more than 5 minutes in length, representing the work of the best and edgiest artists working in any medium, from performance art, painting and photography to sculpture, installation and new media. Last week we featured 'London' by Luke Jackson, this week we embed 'drift', captured using a still camera it is supremely well done:
Artists are competing for three prizes worth a total of $30,000 and prize winners and runners-up will see their videos screened on New York’s famous Times Square monitors on the 17th December. The “Grand Prize” and the “Best Street Art Video Award” winners will be selected by an illustrious judging panel led by iconic art-house actress and video artist Isabella Rossellini and the online and mobile community will vote on the winner of the “Audience Award”.
Head over to http://www.babelgum.com/metropolisartprize to start viewing and voting - click on the thumbs up under a video to vote...
Artists are competing for three prizes worth a total of $30,000 and prize winners and runners-up will see their videos screened on New York’s famous Times Square monitors on the 17th December. The “Grand Prize” and the “Best Street Art Video Award” winners will be selected by an illustrious judging panel led by iconic art-house actress and video artist Isabella Rossellini and the online and mobile community will vote on the winner of the “Audience Award”.
Head over to http://www.babelgum.com/metropolisartprize to start viewing and voting - click on the thumbs up under a video to vote...
Colorama - Tilt Shift - Large and Small
At the moment our iMac round the back of the office is churning out our first 'fake' tiltshift test. Its been running for 3 days and has given the poor thing a notable level of screen burn, while that processes and we wait for the results, below is how it should be done:
The 'giant hand' makes for an interesting take on tilt shift movies. Developed by UpperFirst for Colorama, the idea is to create a visually absurd situation using displacement of scale between the people in frame and the giant hand. It is meant to underline the contrast of small and big, where the hand symbolizes the consumers ability to effect the environment and in the extension his or her own environment.
Colorama - Makeover from Upper First on Vimeo.
The 'giant hand' makes for an interesting take on tilt shift movies. Developed by UpperFirst for Colorama, the idea is to create a visually absurd situation using displacement of scale between the people in frame and the giant hand. It is meant to underline the contrast of small and big, where the hand symbolizes the consumers ability to effect the environment and in the extension his or her own environment.
2009-11-11
Toyota - Norwegian Visualisation
The Toyota advert below was created by Gimpville, a production house based in Oslo, Norway. We don't normally include adverts, but it is so well done its worthy of a post:
Simple, but charming...
Simple, but charming...
2009-11-10
Epic Announces Free Unreal Development Kit
Epic Games, Inc. has announced the launch of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the game engine and toolset.
The software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers:
There is no charge for noncommercial or educational use of UDK. Over 100 academic campuses currently use Unreal Technology as part of teaching game development-related courses.
Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available. This is quite an interesting development as it could enable some neat architectural ports into the engine.
The software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers:
There is no charge for noncommercial or educational use of UDK. Over 100 academic campuses currently use Unreal Technology as part of teaching game development-related courses.
Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available. This is quite an interesting development as it could enable some neat architectural ports into the engine.
Goodbye London - Metropolis Art Prize Entry 2009
Babelgum Metropolis is looking for the globe’s best and edgiest artists for what is being termed'the world’s biggest art show'. Winners will have their work shown on giant advertising screens this December in Times Square, the neon heart of New York City.
Out of the notable nominees is Luke Jackson's Goodbye London video, directed by Murray John. The video features a mix of stop motion photography and drawn 2-D animation using After Effects. Having just moved to the heart of Camden Town ourselves we really like the video, in fact we love it:
Luke and Murray collaborated on the video via email, attempting to capture the bittersweet sentiment of the song's lyric. They didn't actually meet until the video was almost finished.
You can vote for your favorites by clicking the thumbs-up icon beneath the videos over at http://www.babelgum.com/metropolisartprize.
There are some fantastic videos featured, the voting period is 4th November – 2nd December.
Out of the notable nominees is Luke Jackson's Goodbye London video, directed by Murray John. The video features a mix of stop motion photography and drawn 2-D animation using After Effects. Having just moved to the heart of Camden Town ourselves we really like the video, in fact we love it:
Luke and Murray collaborated on the video via email, attempting to capture the bittersweet sentiment of the song's lyric. They didn't actually meet until the video was almost finished.
You can vote for your favorites by clicking the thumbs-up icon beneath the videos over at http://www.babelgum.com/metropolisartprize.
There are some fantastic videos featured, the voting period is 4th November – 2nd December.
Automating Geospatial Dataset Metadata
James K. Batcheller, Bruce M. Gittings and and Robert I. Dunfey of the
Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh have just published 'A Method for Automating Geospatial Dataset Metadata' in Future Internet Journal of which we here at digital urban are Editor-in-Chief.
Abstract
Metadata have long been recognised as crucial to geospatial asset management and discovery, and yet undertaking their creation remains an unenviable task often to be avoided. This paper proposes a practical approach designed to address such concerns, decomposing various data creation, management, update and documentation process steps that are subsequently leveraged to contribute towards metadata record completion. Using a customised utility embedded within a common GIS application, metadata elements are computationally derived from an imposed feature metadata standard, dataset geometry, an integrated storage protocol and pre-prepared content, and instantiated within a common geospatial discovery convention. Yielding 27 out of a 32 total metadata elements (or 15 out of 17 mandatory elements) the approach demonstrably lessens the burden of metadata authorship. It also encourages improved geospatial asset management whilst outlining core requisites for developing a more open metadata strategy not bound to any particular application domain.
Its an interesting paper tackling the laborious task of metadata creation, as ever with Future Internet you can read/download the paper for free via http://www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet
Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh have just published 'A Method for Automating Geospatial Dataset Metadata' in Future Internet Journal of which we here at digital urban are Editor-in-Chief.
Abstract
Metadata have long been recognised as crucial to geospatial asset management and discovery, and yet undertaking their creation remains an unenviable task often to be avoided. This paper proposes a practical approach designed to address such concerns, decomposing various data creation, management, update and documentation process steps that are subsequently leveraged to contribute towards metadata record completion. Using a customised utility embedded within a common GIS application, metadata elements are computationally derived from an imposed feature metadata standard, dataset geometry, an integrated storage protocol and pre-prepared content, and instantiated within a common geospatial discovery convention. Yielding 27 out of a 32 total metadata elements (or 15 out of 17 mandatory elements) the approach demonstrably lessens the burden of metadata authorship. It also encourages improved geospatial asset management whilst outlining core requisites for developing a more open metadata strategy not bound to any particular application domain.
Its an interesting paper tackling the laborious task of metadata creation, as ever with Future Internet you can read/download the paper for free via http://www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet
2009-11-05
Normal Service Resumes Next Tuesday...
A quick post as we are taking some time out to move flats here in London town. The bad news is that this means we are without internet access for a few days so posts will be limited to say the least.
The good news is that the new place is in a perfect position for some tilt-shift timelapses so a tutorial will be forthcoming along with thoughts and techniques for urban HDR.
We are back at du headquarters early next week when a normal, perhaps slightly enhanced, service will resume...
The good news is that the new place is in a perfect position for some tilt-shift timelapses so a tutorial will be forthcoming along with thoughts and techniques for urban HDR.
We are back at du headquarters early next week when a normal, perhaps slightly enhanced, service will resume...
2009-11-02
Unity - Now Free
Unity, our current development platform of choice here at digital urban, is now available free of charge. The Indie version of its Unity engine previously sold for $200 and is quite simple one of the best and indeed easiest game engines to work with.
We will be ramping up our Unity development in the coming months, for now if you haven't had chance to use Unity yet, what are you waiting for.
Head over to http://unity3d.com/unity/ for the download.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in...
We will be ramping up our Unity development in the coming months, for now if you haven't had chance to use Unity yet, what are you waiting for.Head over to http://unity3d.com/unity/ for the download.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in...
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