Sunday, September 08, 2013

World's Largest 320Giga-Pixel Panorama

This Youtube video shows an amazing level of details found in world's largest resolution 320Gigapixel panorama of London:

5 comments:

  1. hmmm, about as much data as 3 minutes of uncompressed UDTV video.

    Anyone know the total pixel count for Google Earth? I prefer their user interface for zooming in and panning. This one seems backwards relative to Google Earth training.

    Also, strange contrast/sharpness jump in the last bit of zooming in. I wonder what that is about? Seems like some sort of data stitch point.

    For me, the bottom line is that it just shows how little privacy we will have in the future, even within our abodes if there are windows. Just imagine real time surveillance with automatic facial and license plate recognition software for tracking most citizens. Very Orwellian and just shows how good technology can be used for good intentions with bad consequences.

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  2. [...] it just shows how little privacy we will have in the future[...] Just imagine real time surveillance with automatic facial and license plate recognition software for tracking most citizens. Very Orwellian [...]

    Just think of Google glass in that context...

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    1. Oh I do, indeed. Although, I would say that belongs in a slightly different category since it is short range. sees what a human sees (at least for now), and you have a fair chance of knowing you are being observed. Still, I believe there needs to be a "Bill of Rights" for video surveillance and recording even if it is difficult to sort out the rights of the observer from the rights of the observed. For example, one aim of Google Glass is to be unobtrusive. Yet, I feel there should be a red blinking light showing that recording is occurring.

      If you know you are being recorded, would you change how you act, and think more about what you say, or will you just act the same? Remember, digital recordings can be edited out of context, and last forever. How do you feel when people take close up pictures of you with their camera phone without asking? Would you mind if people take pictures of you inside your house through a window and then post them on-line?

      We are the technologists making this happen. We ought to be asking ourselves the difficult questions before things get out of control. We ought to be urging policy makers to enact a clear statement of our rights, in the USA and elsewhere.

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    2. Makes you think whether Communism would have lasted another 200 years if they had access to this level of monitoring an individual ...

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  3. Seems like imaging is encountering the same ethical questions that biotech is asking about cloning and DNA screening and modification. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

    Technologists are far ahead of the ethicists, like children running ahead of their parents at an amusement park. "Someone's going to get lost if we don't stay together!"

    Also ask yourself what might be the state of the art is in spy satellites or drone cameras...

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