GPS - GPS World: Earthmine Licenses 3D Imagery Tech from NASA's JPL

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GPS World: Earthmine Licenses 3D Imagery Tech from NASA's JPL

Sam Wormley

2007-12-14, 10:33 am

Earthmine Licenses 3D Imagery Tech from NASA's JPL
http://lbs.gpsworld.com/gpslbs/cont...p.jsp?id=479169

Dec 13, 2007
GPS World

3D street-mapping provider Earthmine Inc. has finalized an exclusive
agreement with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to
license 3D data-generation software and algorithms created by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the company announced earlier this
week.

The agreement with JPL and Caltech includes an exclusive and
perpetual license for photogrammetric technology allowing for the
creation of very dense and accurate 3D data from stereo panoramic
imagery. JPL is utilizing the same technology for its current Mars
rover missions.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Caltech has taken an
equity position in Earthmine, the company said.

The agreement between JPL and Earthmine includes exclusive use of
software and algorithms for street-level mapping, and asset
management, and encompasses stereo-vision systems and camera
calibration algorithms. Earthmine will utilize the software and
algorithms as a part of its processing pipeline, which automates the
creation of panoramic imagery with pixel-for-pixel 3D-depth
information from its image collection system, the company said.

The JPL technology provides an unsurpassed level of accuracy and
density in its 3D data-generation process, according to Earthmine
co-founders John Ristevski and Anthony Fassero. "The problem of
generating very dense and accurate 3D data from wide-angle images is
an extremely difficult one, which engineers and scientists at JPL
have been working on solving for over a decade. Licensing this
technology from JPL gives Earthmine a significant advantage and will
enable ongoing improvements in our technology," they said.

Darius

2007-12-14, 10:33 pm

On Dec 14, 4:43 pm, Sam Wormley <sworml...@mchsi.com> wrote:
> Earthmine Licenses 3D Imagery Tech from NASA's JPL
> http://lbs.gpsworld.com/gpslbs/cont...p.jsp?id=479169
>
> Dec 13, 2007
> GPS World
>
> 3D street-mapping provider Earthmine Inc. has finalized an exclusive
> agreement with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to
> license 3D data-generation software and algorithms created by NASA's
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the company announced earlier this
> week.
>
> The agreement with JPL and Caltech includes an exclusive and
> perpetual license for photogrammetric technology allowing for the
> creation of very dense and accurate 3D data from stereo panoramic
> imagery. JPL is utilizing the same technology for its current Mars
> rover missions.
>
> Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Caltech has taken an
> equity position in Earthmine, the company said.
>
> The agreement between JPL and Earthmine includes exclusive use of
> software and algorithms for street-level mapping, and asset
> management, and encompasses stereo-vision systems and camera
> calibration algorithms. Earthmine will utilize the software and
> algorithms as a part of its processing pipeline, which automates the
> creation of panoramic imagery with pixel-for-pixel 3D-depth
> information from its image collection system, the company said.
>
> The JPL technology provides an unsurpassed level of accuracy and
> density in its 3D data-generation process, according to Earthmine
> co-founders John Ristevski and Anthony Fassero. "The problem of
> generating very dense and accurate 3D data from wide-angle images is
> an extremely difficult one, which engineers and scientists at JPL
> have been working on solving for over a decade. Licensing this
> technology from JPL gives Earthmine a significant advantage and will
> enable ongoing improvements in our technology," they said.

Thanks.
Just contacted Earthmine.
But they are still in product development phase.
There is a number of other companies already on a market, offering
full 3D imaging from photography, based on photogrammetric image
processing.
Technology is not very complicated but using full power of distributed
supercomputer.

I am really surprised what makes Googloe, MS Virtual Earth and others,
not to offer such full 3D class navigation systems on a working
basis ?
Developing full 3D navigation systems I would welcome an opportunity
to utilize already 3D scanned cities imaginery.

Interested to join 3D gps navigation business, showing any progress
and prosperity.

Darius

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