Re: [AMC-list] Not Exactly Sophie's Choice

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Anonymous Joe -- I think you just got a new name!



>
> Good luck with code enforcement. I was talking with a friend before he
> moved to Wyoming (or Montana? somewhere really out there!). He called
> the town about property lines before selling. The lady on the line
> told him exactly where his property lines where, in relation to the
> home made plywood tiny tugboat he had on his property. They used
> satellite view and could tell exactly what was on his property and
> where. Including his work truck, two utility trailers, a dock and a
> tugboat.
>

As soon as I saw GoogleEarth a few years back, it was obvious that the code
and building-permit people were gonna make a fortune for their cities as
soon as they catch on... every un-permitted house extention, garage, etc
will be either visible directly, or enough hints to warrant closer manual
inspection.

The resolution in G.E. is dumbed down; its now easily good enough to resolve
tail lights on cars. THere's a few cities (one in Ireland) that google has
left full resolution, and you can see license plates (cant read 'em, bad
angle!) and chrome trim on cars.

It's not Big Brother, it's just the tech "we've all been contributing to".
Telephone, radio, TV, telegraph, Pony Express all had the same cultural
effect.


Google Earth is the single most awe-inspiring computer-based system humans
have ever come up with, imho. (Hint: with a FAST computer with GREAT
graphics card, and FAST internet, in Options turn "anisotropic filtering" to
maximum, detail to maximum, and height exaggeration to 1.5. Pick an
altitude, like 5000 feet, tilt the viewpoint 45 degrees then grab the earth
and spin it.... )

G.E. uses massive computation, a century of geodata collection, telephone
and internet terrestrial tech, satellites and rocketry, data mining and
visualization, planet-wide legal arrangements of byzantine complexity,
bazillions of human hours of tedious work, and it's free to use, and extends
your senses in an incredible way. It alone is reason to buy a computer.
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