Google Earth Real Time

[devogue]

Will we ever see something like Google Earth in real time?

Imagine I could say "Right everybody! Here's my longitude and latitude, I'll be outside dancing in my garden in 30 seconds!" and you could zoom in and see me dancing about in real time, as if it was live TV.

Forgetting for a second any privacy laws, how far away do you reckon we are from such a scenario? What sort of technology would be required?

[Kristie]

I'm positive the technology already exists. It's just a matter of time, I'm sure.

[Thinking Aloud]

Will we ever see something like Google Earth in real time?

Imagine I could say "Right everybody! Here's my longitude and latitude, I'll be outside dancing in my garden in 30 seconds!" and you could zoom in and see me dancing about in real time, as if it was live TV.

Forgetting for a second any privacy laws, how far away do you reckon we are from such a scenario? What sort of technology would be required?

Stuff to zap away the continuous overcast for a start.

[klr]

Loadsa satellites, each with loadsa very powerful cameras. And money. Lots and lots of Loadsa money.

Will we ever see something like Google Earth in real time?

Imagine I could say "Right everybody! Here's my longitude and latitude, I'll be outside dancing in my garden in 30 seconds!" and you could zoom in and see me dancing about in real time, as if it was live TV.

Forgetting for a second any privacy laws, how far away do you reckon we are from such a scenario? What sort of technology would be required?

Stuff to zap away the continuous overcast for a start.

Not to mention some industrial-strength camera flashes for working in the dark.

[Thinking Aloud]

Much of the Google Earth coverage is from aerial photos (certainly in the UK), and satellite coverage tends to be in the form of strip-scans from polar-orbiting satellites - i.e. they're in constant motion around us. Geostationary satellites - the sort we'd need to be watching us all the time - are much further away, and probably not yet suited for the kind of resolution GE exhibits. Plus they'd be above the equator, and so anything close to the poles would suffer from the angle of viewing becoming quite low.

[Clinton Huxley]

Nanobots, that's the answer.

[Thinking Aloud]

Nanobots, that's the answer.

Anywhere and everywhere, floating above us at 100m intervals, in our homes, in our gardens ...

EVERYWHERE could be live online.

[klr]

Much of the Google Earth coverage is from aerial photos (certainly in the UK), and satellite coverage tends to be in the form of strip-scans from polar-orbiting satellites - i.e. they're in constant motion around us. Geostationary satellites - the sort we'd need to be watching us all the time - are much further away, and probably not yet suited for the kind of resolution GE exhibits. Plus they'd be above the equator, and so anything close to the poles would suffer from the angle of viewing becoming quite low.

You just beat me to this point. Maybe the CIA has something up its sleeve in terms of ultra-zoom.

Much of the detailed GE coverage is obviously very selective: When you go to a particular point of interest, you will often find that only that site and its immediate surrounds have been given the (aerial) treatment, and everything else is low-qual.

Nanobots, that's the answer.

Anywhere and everywhere, floating above us at 100m intervals, in our homes, in our gardens ...

EVERYWHERE could be live online.

Think of the required bandwidth ...

[Clinton Huxley]

Bandwidth? You use some kind of quantum-entanglement type arrangement to send the Dancing Dev down cables that don't even exist

[devogue]

It's going to have something to do with Wonka TV, isn't it?

[Feck]

Will we ever see something like Google Earth in real time?

Imagine I could say "Right everybody! Here's my longitude and latitude, I'll be outside dancing in my garden in 30 seconds!" and you could zoom in and see me dancing about in real time, as if it was live TV.

Forgetting for a second any privacy laws, how far away do you reckon we are from such a scenario? What sort of technology would be required?

Stuff to zap away the continuous overcast for a start.

Oh please

[AshtonBlack]

I believe ubiquitous live coverage for public consumption is probable in the next 50-100 or so years.

I suppose we have two options. A massive increase in power and bandwidth or, this is my personal wish, that the ground to geo orbit costs can be slashed.... (By the way, this is part of the sci-fi book I'm badly writing.)

10-15 yrs) Mass fabrication of carbon nano-tube based items. 80% world Internet use.
20-25 yrs) The perfection of sustainable fusion in the lab, but massively expensive. Internet access now ubiquitous and all pervasive.
30 yrs) The AI "singularity" occurs, Corporate AI given "corporate rights" in the US, AI now allowed to sue in online courts. Internet medical implants certified.
50 yrs) The completion of the first space "elevator". Fusion powered. Exploitation of the NEO's occurs. Private citizens can rent satellite time, linked to personal implants.
50-100yrs) Fusion power now attainable at relatively low cost. Genetic manipulation allows humans to survive in null g for extended periods. Humans can "upload" memory patterns based on atomic structure of the neurons, simulated in "AI" space. Rich humans now effectively immortal.


(Standard Sci-fi bollocks.)

[devogue]

I believe ubiquitous live coverage for public consumption is probable in the next 50-100 or so years.

I suppose we have two options. A massive increase in power and bandwidth or, this is my personal wish, that the ground to geo orbit costs can be slashed.... (By the way, this is part of the sci-fi book I'm badly writing.)

10-15 yrs) Mass fabrication of carbon nano-tube based items. 80% world Internet use.
20-25 yrs) The perfection of sustainable fusion in the lab, but massively expensive. Internet access now ubiquitous and all pervasive.
30 yrs) The AI "singularity" occurs, Corporate AI given "corporate rights" in the US, AI now allowed to sue in online courts. Internet medical implants certified.
50 yrs) The completion of the first space "elevator". Fusion powered. Exploitation of the NEO's occurs. Private citizens can rent satellite time, linked to personal implants.
50-100yrs) Fusion power now attainable at relatively low cost. Genetic manipulation allows humans to survive in null g for extended periods. Humans can "upload" memory patterns based on atomic structure of the neurons, simulated in "AI" space. Rich humans now effectively immortal.


(Standard Sci-fi bollocks.)

What's really exciting is that the reality of the future will be far more thrilling than what you have envisaged (with all due respect).

I remember watching Avatar and being amazed when the scientists pulled out moving X Ray things on weird sort of LCD displays, thinking how incredibly futuristic they looked.

Then I remembered how amazingly futuristic Captain Picard's laptop looked on Star Trek.

Who would have foreseen the internet 20 years ago?

Oh, such fun we shall have!

[AshtonBlack]

The internet was predicted by James Burke in 1978 in episode 10 of Connections.

[Clinton Huxley]

I remember Arthur C. Clarke predicting that some kind of genetically-engineered mini-elephant would be the ideal domestic servant - relatively intelligent, strong and able to manipulate objects whilst remaining a quadraped.

Not one of his finest......

Ashton's idea of AI being able to get legal representation, combined with the news at the moment that SWitzerland is considering allowing animals to have their own lawyers raises the possibility of a monkey suing a robot monkey for defamation.

That's all you can really say for certain about the future - lawyers will continue to make lots of money.....