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Currently, the US Military runs divisions called “Route Clearance Crews” using large retrofitted bulldozers called “HMDS” (Husky Mounted Detection Systems, from Niitek) that travel important routes through unfriendly territory looking for mines and IED’s. As you can imagine, these machines are expensive and delicate. A recent analysis from the military found that 50% of all damages to the ground penetrating radar panels came from simple operator error from users unfamiliar with the equipment. To fix this, the Army partnered up with the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) to create a video-game based training package to train users on proper use of the equipment.
“The joint forces have received the HMDS training package with such high marks that we anticipate its use will far exceed its original intent and capability over the coming years,” said Vigus. The HMDS training package’s success exists in its ability to incorporate holistic interactive multimedia instruction with virtual and live training. The result of this approach to training is a lowcost, agile trainer that builds individual knowledge and skills while promoting collective rehearsals of route clearance operations.
It uses an interesting 3-step “Crawl, Walk, Run” approach to training. Users “Crawl” through multimedia training materials like videos and manuals, before moving through “Crawl” “Walk” portions where they use video game simulators for virtual test drives of the equipment. Finally, they use “Run” portions of real equipment fitted not with IED sensors, but instead IED simulators showing artificial results to test the operator’s ability to negotiate hazards.
You can get the full details in the JIEDDO press release here (Download PDF, View Online).
Update 3/7/2011 – Fixed the “Walk” portion, as pointed out in the comments.
Hardware military, training
Current events in Northern Africa and the Middle East are changing political landscape of a lot of nations, and Innovation News Daily takes a look at some of those countries that seem to be on the road to revolution. The basic forms of government are presented by JTLSYY jr on a interesting chart, and then we take a look at the modes of Terrorist Attacks around the World, between 2005 and 2010, with a help from Navanti. The impact of USAID, made by the organization, and the beautiful designed International Aid Flows, by Gregor Aisch, close our selection of the day.
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Graphics, Science design, economy, environment, infographic, infoviz, Visual Loop, visualizations
Infographic: All about Oscar and the Academy Awards
Graphics, Science digest, infographics, list
It’s been a bit longer than I expected, but today Microsoft has finally released the official version of the RemoteFX product for Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.
Today’s release of RemoteFX with Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows 7 SP1 is the culmination of two years’ close collaboration between engineers at Microsoft and engineers in great companies across our industry. This work has allowed us to build a new graphics experience for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) customers. The download for this release will enable millions of existing servers to run RDP 7.1 with RemoteFX and Remote Desktop Services. Hundreds of millions of Windows 7 Client machines will be enabled to take advantage of the benefits associated with accessing RemoteFX-capable servers.
If you’ve forgotten, RemoteFX is an addon to their existing Terminal Services and Remote Desktop services systems in use by various Thin Clients that adds the ability to use remote GPU’s for hardware acceleration and GPU compute. This means the nice Aero desktop, data visualization products, and even video games can now be used on true Thin Clients.
Already, NVidia has drivers out for the product, and the blog post form Microsoft lists a slew of other companies like Ti, iGEL, HP, and Citrix with additional products. I also like HP’s take on the new technology and it’s relation to the “Law of Conservation of Misery” (The total misery in any system must remain constant).
The law of conservation of misery that used to apply to client virtualization is now challenged with the Microsoft RemoteFX technology. It allows you to virtualize the GPU on the host side and also use the GPU’s computing power to do the rendering and compression of the graphics that are sent down to the client as fast as possible. But, what type of client? Any type of client able to run the new version of RDP 7.1, which means that even low-end ones will be able to do it. The end result? Client virtualization users will have the opportunity to access rich media content and enjoy Windows in Aero mode, as well as to do VDI with high resolution, and with single, dual displays …and beyond. This explains why there is a lot of excitement in the market.
via The RemoteFX industry ships products today – Windows Server Division WebLog – Site Home – TechNet Blogs.
Hardware microsoft, remotefx, software
OptiTrack will be demonstrating a pair of new motion capture systems at GDC2011 this year, both offering full 120hz tracking with 6 degrees of freedom, all for under $2000.
Designed for desktop-friendly motion capture, the Duo and Trio offer the power of multi-camera, six degrees of freedom (DOF) object tracking in a single, plug-and-play package. Each tracking system is self-contained and factory calibrated for out-of-the-box tracking that is simple to use, but still offers the leading accuracy and flexibility of optical tracking technology.
What I really love about this new offering is the new V120:Trio (shown above). This bar combines two “sensor” cameras for 3d tracking (on the ends) with a traditional color camera in the middle. This makes it perfect for augmented reality type applications that want to track objects accurately in 3D space and combine it with live video of the space.
These sensor bars are used widely in image guided surgery applications (Where I used to work), currently dominated by NDI (Northern Digital). Offering similar technology at a vastly lower price point could really revolutionize a space (biomedical) where budget constraints are becoming a bigger issue every year. The biggest question is the accuracy.
Get the full release after the break.
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Hardware "motion capture", motion tracking, optitrack
Taxes are probably one of the most stressful and depressing times of year, am I right? In an attempt to gleam a bit of useful and, dare I say, Interesting information from the annual mundane task, Google has partnered up with Eyebeam to create the “Data Viz Challenge”
To make that happen, we’ve teamed up with Eyebeam, a not-for-profit art and technology center, to host what we’re calling the Data Viz Challenge. Andrew and Louis have built an API to let anyone access the data, so now you can choose how to display it. Could you create a better animated chart? Something in 3D? An interactive website? A physical display somewhere in the real world? We want you to show everyone how data visualization can be a powerful tool for turning information into understanding.
The challenge ends March 27th, 2011 and is open to U.S. entries only, but the lucky winner will get a nice $5,000 prize.
The Challenge: Visualize Your Taxes | DataVizChallenge.org.
Science contest, eyebeam, google, taxes
Kovas Boguta has posted a couple of nice graphics that visualize twitter activity during the Egyptian crisis. To the right is a mapping of Twitter usage in Egypt. He has arranged the map where tweets in Arabic are in red, while tweets in English are blue. Many of the protesters tweeted in Arabic, while many journalists tweeted in English. Some used both languages, so they are colored purple, and straddle the divide between English and Arabic. You can click on the graphic to make it much larger.
He also has produced a graphic on his site showing how the Internet blackout in Egypt affected twitter postings. It is well worth visiting the site to see this graphic as well.
Experts say Egypt is the crystal ball in which the Arab world sees its future. Now that Mubarak has stepped down, I can share the work I’ve done making that metaphor tangible, and visualizing the pro-democracy movement in Egypt and across the Middle East. It is based on their Twitter activity, capturing the freedom of expression and association that is possible in that medium, and which is representative of a new collective consciousness taking form.
via : Visualizing the new Arab Mind
Graphics information visualization
Trulia has posted a nice Rent vs. Buy graphic for major metropolitan areas around the country. Of course, in New York City it is cheaper to rent than it is to buy while in Phoenix it is just the reverse. Just for kicks, I checked on Honolulu, HI. I would have thought that it would have been overpriced, but by Trulia’s calculations, it is not. Of course, this misses entire states since they are focusing on only 100 cities in the major markets. I am curious as to why they placed Memphis up around St. Louis, MO. Then again, Boston and New York City are located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
Trulia’s Q1 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index provides guidance to help you make a smart decision on whether it is better to rent or buy in each of America’s 50 largest cities by population. The Rent:Buy Ratio is calculated by using the median list price compared with the median rent on two-bedroom apartments, condos and townhomes listed on Trulia.com.
via : Trulia Rent vs. Buy
Graphics economic, trulia
Today’s selection is focused again on Social Media. From The Blog Herald comes a look at the top Social Media Brands, followed by how the Auto Industry and the Airlines are embracing Social Media, brought by Mashable and Travel 2dot0. The hectic schedule of a social media manager is analyzed by the folks at Socialcast, and we close with the detailed look on why aren’t Brands accessing Online Video ads, by BuySellAds.
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Graphics, Science design, economy, environment, infographic, infoviz, Visual Loop, visualizations
VizWorld.com 
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