A new VirtualGeography is pushed out about once per month, towards the end of the month, which shouldn’t be too big a drain on your mailbox if you’re not already subscribed (of course it won’t be a drain on your mailbox if you ARE subscribed, either ). If you know of anyone who might like to get VirtualGeography, let me know their e-mail address and I’ll forward them a copy, or feel free to forward this to them and ask them to subscribe. By the way, subscription and unsubscription details are at the bottom (click here).

By the spelling of "Visualisation" you may have already guessed that we’re not US based – that’s a good thing, or at least not a bad thing. This comes to you from the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia, where it’s beautiful one day and perfect the next.

The link between visualisation and mapping may seem a little esoteric if this is your first encounter with this sort of stuff, but let me tell you, the bond is significant… but enough of that: on with the show… I hope you like it. Any feedback you might have is highly appreciated. E-mail me hereto make your comments.

By the way, you’ll need an active internet connection to view any images that are in the content. We’ve done it this way to keep the size of the e-mail to a minimum.

Enjoy…

Graeme Brooke
VizMAP Pty Ltd

Named for Roland Tibbetts, the acknowledged father of the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program, these awards are made annually "to those small firms, projects, organizations and individuals judged to exemplify the very best in SBIR acheivement." The SBIR program is administered by the Department of Defense to fund early-stage Research and Development projects at small technology companies.

"We are quite proud of this award," commented Dr. Jefferey A. Shufelt, Director of Corporate Research. "We’ve always believed that our work on novel urban modeling tools, supported through the SBIR program with sponsorship from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the U.S. Army, has resulted in significant advances in the state-of-the-art development of rapid and accurate urban simulation. These tools, incorporated into our TerraTools® commercial off-the-shelf product for government and civilian use, have been applied to the visualization of three-dimensional urban environments for city and regional planning, training and mission rehearsal, and homeland defense and readiness. Recognition through a Tibbetts Award is a gratifying validation of our efforts, and we are pleased to accept this honor." 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Sept. 24, 2002)–SGI (NYSE: SGI) today announced that Ford Motor Company has purchased and installed SGI® Reality CenterTM technology for its North American car visualization facility. Design and engineering teams at Ford’s Dearborn, Mich., headquarters will be able to compile three-dimensional, immersive representations in real time from multiple data sources and formats for critical design and assembly reviews. As a result, Ford can optimize product design and performance, thus helping to reduce time to market of products. 

The SGI Reality Center system at Ford integrates an SGI® Onyx® 3000 series visualization system with three InfiniteReality3TM graphics pipes, eight 64-bit processors and three high-brightness digital projectors, letting teams of up to 30 people collaborate on the design process in an immersive stereo viewing environment. Working closely with Ford to address its specific requirement for multiteam design reviews, SGI Professional Services designed the turnkey Reality Center solution to seamlessly generate virtual models in real time from 3D design applications, video, digital images and other data sources. 

Fakespace Systems (Kitchener, Ontario) provided an 8-foot-high by 24-foot-wide edge-blended flat wall display system for the Reality Center facility. This stereoscopic WorkWallTM enables true three-dimensional viewing of large-scale computer-generated models. 

• EarthServer can be configured as either a turnkey ASP solution or integrated into an organizations private network
• Global data set served by EarthServer includes imagery, elevation, road maps and yellow page listings
• Server infrastructure supports streams to packet-based devices to deliver constantly updated data
• EarthViewer clients support multiple platforms including Win95/98/NT/2K, WinCE, cHTML, WAP and HTML
• Third party data can be published independently and merged with primary data feed by client 

Sample still images from the completed dynamic visualisations are displayed here. An active internet connection is required to be able to view these scenes.
 

Click on these small resampled images to view the full screen images on the VizMAP website. Bear in mind that these are just screen dumps from a dynamic, interactive, 3D "flythrough". 

1. Los Angeles’s full name is: "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Poriuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "LA."
2. When Portland, Oregon change the name of Union Ave to Martin Luther King Blvd, it lost the intersection of Union Ave and Division Street.
3. The most western point in continental Europe is Cabo de Roche in Portugal.
4. The longest place name still in use is: Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu – a New Zealand hill.
5. Alaska was purchased from Russia for 2 cents per acre
6. Mexico’s east coast is sinking into the sea at the rate of one to two inches per year.
7. In the United States there are more 2nd streets than there are 1st streets, and Main street is not the most common; Pine is.
8. Many people think that the clock in the tower of Londons House Of Parliment is called "Big Ben." Actually, the nickname "Big Ben" originally applied to the huge bell in the clock, not to the clock itself.
9. The only nation whose name begins with an "A", but doesn’t end in an "A" is Afghanistan.
10. You can call it England, Britain, Great Britain, United Kingdom, or U.K. – however if you buy a stamp there, you won’t find any name. England was the first country in the world to issue postage stamps, and they’re the only nation in the world today that doesn’t use a national name on their stamps

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God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look Michael! Look what I have made." 

Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?" 

"It’s a planet", replied God, "and I’ve put LIFE on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a great place of balance." 

"Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. 

God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. "For example, Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth while Southern Europe is going to be poor; the Middle East over there will be a hot spot. Over there I’ve placed a continent of white people and over there is a continent of black people." God continued, pointing to different countries. "And over there, I call this place America. North America will be rich, powerful and cold, while South America will be poor, hot and friendly. And the little spot in the middle is Central America which is a hot spot. Can you see the balance?" 

"Yes" said the Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then he pointed to a large land mass and asked, "What’s that one?" 

"Ah", said God, "That’s Australia, the most glorious place on Earth! There are beautiful mountains, rainforests, rivers, streams and an exquisite coast line. The people are good looking, intelligent and humorous and they’re going to be found travelling the world. They’ll be extremely sociable, hard-working, and high-achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace. I’m also going to give them super-human, undefeatable cricket and rugby players, who will be admired and feared by all who come across them." 

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then declared, "But you said there will be BALANCE!?" 

God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the ugly, whining, sheep-loving bunch I’m putting next to them."

Ed. – Apologies to the "ugly, whining, sheep-loving bunch" amongst us, but this one just tickled my fancy…