International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B5. Istanbul 2004
Coupled with the explosion in digital imaging systems has been
increases in the automatic understanding of these images, from
face recognition to the automatic development of cityscapes.
Researchers in robot vision, visual cognition, medical imaging
and the measurement sciences have all contributed to an
automated approach to image analysis.
2.5 Artificial Intelligence
It has been predicted by some that over the next 20 years or so
artificial intelligence, AI, will approach that of humans (in
particular, Ray Kurzweil, 2004). AI is being developed for
applications ranging from robot vision and autonomous
navigation, image understanding and analysis, financial
predictions and modelling, student assessment, telephony,
network routing, medicine and, unsurprisingly nowadays,
security. For an overview of developing AI applications sce the
Conference Proceedings of AAAI (AAAI, 2004).
2.6 Telecommunications
The area of telecommunications has seen an unprecedented
plethora of advances over the last 20 years, mostly in the
development of mobile telephony. The mobile telephones
today are almost indistinguishable from that used by Dick
Tracy in the cartoons, a wrist communicator with a real time
video link — think 3G networks. In Australia, mobile
telephones were introduced in the 1980s, they were large,
unwieldy and gave very limited battery life. Today a Nokia
6600 has a camera with VGA resolution that captures still and
video images, and can transfer the photographs directly to a
printer, or other devices using either infrared or the B/uetooth
wireless system. It has a personal organiser, xHTML web
browsing using WAP 2.0 (Wireless Application Browser), it
plays streaming audio and video, acts as a voice recorder,
converts currencies and measures, comes installed with Java
MIDP2.0, has voice dialling, and weighs 125 grams
(www.nokia.com).
With a little imagination one could program the telephone to
edge detect the images, extract the data and convert to a CAD
drawing. The device could also analyse a sequence of images,
and derive a 3d model, and then transmit this to a client or
master data base server.
Advances are also not limited to terrestrial networks, after an
unfortunate start satellite telephony is now also a reality,
enabling real time reporting from the front-line in Iraq, and
switching between GSM and satellite networks on the one
handset.
2.7 Positioning Technology
The Global Positioning System has migrated from a military
navigation solution to the car dashboard. Originally established
to aid in positioning, navigation and mapping (somewhat
specialist uses) it has become a consumer item much like a
digital camera. DVD-ROM based in-car navigation systems
now sit side by side with personal stereo players, MP3
jukeboxes and other consumer electronics.
The E911 ruling by the United States Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has already added embedded GPS
positioning into all new cellular telephones in the US, and
Garmin have released a handheld radio (Rino 110) with
embedded GPS. A GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communication) mobile telephone with GPS, WAP mini
browser, mapping software, and an orgainser has also been
released by Garmin, opening up the positioning device to a
world market (the Navtalk GSM, Garmin, 2004). It is a small
step to embed this positioning capability into a camera.
Allied with GPS is the development of other sensors for
acceleration, orientation and inclination, with appropriate
software to integrate these into full positioning and orientation
systems.
2.8 Mathematics and Algorithms
Much of these technological developments depend on the rapid
processing of mathematical instructions in order to function, so
without those advances in mathematical modelling many of
these would not work.
However modern photogrammetric processes are also
dependent upon recent advances in the algorithms that solve the
‘unknowns’. The bundle adjustment and direct linear
transformation have given software packages like
Photomodeler an entry to model creation for web marketing,
not a traditional area for photogrammetric applications. With
further developments there will be real time analysis and
understanding of features in images, real-time restitution and
feature extraction as the images are acquired.
2.9 The Internet
Computer networking has changed the life of most in the
technology rich nations significantly over the last 20 years.
Already today at the end of September 2003 in Australia there
was reported to be over 5.2 million Internet subscribers, a 3%
rise over the three previous months with over 47% being for
broadband subscriptions (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004).
This is a country/continent with a population of 20 million
where when one moves from the more populous regions one
needs satellite telephones for communication.
The Internet now facilitates international communication,
finance, news reporting, information distribution and
entertainment. This has come about in less than 10 years.
The Internet will soon become insidious, already wireless
networks are available where it is possible to connect to data
and information providers from locations without the need for a
telephone network. Indeed the distinctions between a telephone
network, wireless computer network and a hard wired internet
connection are rapidly disappearing. All the literature and web
sites consulted predict a ubiquitous network for the future.
2.10 Measurement Technology
There have also been substantial advances in the
instrumentation and approaches used in measurement science
(the metric component of documentation). Reflector-less
distance measurement, automated recording of attribute
information, automated input into data bases and Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) are already operational.
Laser scanning systems are now also making an impact with the
relatively new technology being used to acquire 3d data on
monuments and sites. Although presently the processing of the
point clouds into useful ‘filtered’ information is in its infancy,
the full impact of this is yet to be felt.
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