5 ms·

Er... it's not entirely clear, but apparently the infringement claim was based on "the ability to zoom from the globe graphic all the way down to a particular n

by rob74 5y ago

Er... it's not entirely clear, but apparently the infringement claim was based on "the ability to zoom from the globe graphic all the way down to a particular neighborhood"?! So something a mildly talented programmer could come up with in (generously estimated) 1-2 days tops? And sure it looks cool, but claiming this animation is original enough to be patentable is stretching it a bit...

wrnr 5y ago
As generous as the half a bowl of rice Kim Jong-un gives to his loyal subjects.
ahazred8ta 5y ago
There's (analog) prior art for the zooming from 1957, 1968, and 1977. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_Ten_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_Ten_(film)
bpodgursky 5y ago
I don't disagree that it's not patentable, but high-performance GIS / tilemap scaling manipulation is not nearly as simple to build as you are imagining.
arthurcolle 5y ago
Is this what you imagine? ``` import gis gis.renderGlobe() ``` the actual tiling logic, data storage requirements, performant rendering in something like a shitty 1990s browser... I don't think you have an appreciation for the difficulty of bootstrapping this ex nihilo.
- rob74 5y ago
  Well, the article (more or less) says that it ran on an SGI workstation (some photos are available here: https://artcom.de/en/?project=terravision https://artcom.de/en/?project=terravision), of course it would have been impossible in a 1990s browser. What I actually wanted to say was that, while the technical feat of programming something like this in the nineties is certainly something to be proud of, I still think that the basic idea of zooming in from orbit to a certain section of the globe is too obvious to be patentable - and from a purely mathematical point of view (ignoring things like levels of detail of 3D models, memory limitations, the actual 3D programming etc.) the signature zooming-in animation from Google Earth (which apparently was also present in Terravision) is not that complicated to implement either.
perl4ever 5y ago
"The problem, once solved, will be simple" (possibly Thomas Edison, who I believed was accused of stealing IP a lot)
jandrewrogers 5y ago
This was definitely non-trivial at the time. Even now the only way it would take "1-2 days tops" is if you use a naive design that ignores important edge cases and leverages a lot of code and computer science that did not exist then. Geospatial is hard.
seabird 5y ago
I strongly encourage you to try and achieve this in less than 24 working hours with the hardware and software that was available at that time. Even if you "cheat" and use high-end workstations and ~25 years of new knowledge and hindsight, even a talented programmer would likely struggle with this problem for multiple months.
- ffhhj 5y ago
  Hmm, tech from '95... using VESA BIOS extension and high/extended memory modes, you might be able to modify Doom source code for the optimized 3D operations, but you'd still need to create a LODed-megatexture database and an API to serve it, unless you want users to "Insert CD 23 and press Enter".
  - ant6n 5y ago
    Haha, just do a planet sized doom level. Easy peasy.
  - flohofwoe 5y ago
    Good luck trying to do any sort of 3D rendering in Doom ;)
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jebronie 5y ago
So easy! Why didn't they just import it into Unity???!!! Thats you.
- SilicaAndPina 5y ago
  This comment made my day thank you

by rob74 5y ago

wrnr 5y ago

As generous as the half a bowl of rice Kim Jong-un gives to his loyal subjects.

ahazred8ta 5y ago

There's (analog) prior art for the zooming from 1957, 1968, and 1977. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_Ten_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_Ten_(film)

bpodgursky 5y ago

I don't disagree that it's not patentable, but high-performance GIS / tilemap scaling manipulation is not nearly as simple to build as you are imagining.

arthurcolle 5y ago

Is this what you imagine? ``` import gis gis.renderGlobe() ``` the actual tiling logic, data storage requirements, performant rendering in something like a shitty 1990s browser... I don't think you have an appreciation for the difficulty of bootstrapping this ex nihilo.

rob74 5y ago
Well, the article (more or less) says that it ran on an SGI workstation (some photos are available here: https://artcom.de/en/?project=terravision https://artcom.de/en/?project=terravision), of course it would have been impossible in a 1990s browser. What I actually wanted to say was that, while the technical feat of programming something like this in the nineties is certainly something to be proud of, I still think that the basic idea of zooming in from orbit to a certain section of the globe is too obvious to be patentable - and from a purely mathematical point of view (ignoring things like levels of detail of 3D models, memory limitations, the actual 3D programming etc.) the signature zooming-in animation from Google Earth (which apparently was also present in Terravision) is not that complicated to implement either.

perl4ever 5y ago

"The problem, once solved, will be simple" (possibly Thomas Edison, who I believed was accused of stealing IP a lot)

jandrewrogers 5y ago

This was definitely non-trivial at the time. Even now the only way it would take "1-2 days tops" is if you use a naive design that ignores important edge cases and leverages a lot of code and computer science that did not exist then. Geospatial is hard.

seabird 5y ago

I strongly encourage you to try and achieve this in less than 24 working hours with the hardware and software that was available at that time. Even if you "cheat" and use high-end workstations and ~25 years of new knowledge and hindsight, even a talented programmer would likely struggle with this problem for multiple months.

ffhhj 5y ago
Hmm, tech from '95... using VESA BIOS extension and high/extended memory modes, you might be able to modify Doom source code for the optimized 3D operations, but you'd still need to create a LODed-megatexture database and an API to serve it, unless you want users to "Insert CD 23 and press Enter".
- ant6n 5y ago
  Haha, just do a planet sized doom level. Easy peasy.
- flohofwoe 5y ago
  Good luck trying to do any sort of 3D rendering in Doom ;)

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

jebronie 5y ago

So easy! Why didn't they just import it into Unity???!!! Thats you.

SilicaAndPina 5y ago
This comment made my day thank you