© 2019 New Atlas

Mapping

  • The GEBCO-NF's mapping vessel undergoes field testing
    Environment
    Autonomous mapping vessel takes out Ocean Discovery XPrize
    The Shell Ocean Discovery XPrize drew plenty of interesting ideas in its bid to inspire new solutions for mapping the world's oceans, but it was team GEBCO-NF that triumphed, with its vehicle designed to autonomously survey the seafloor over long periods of time.​​​
  • The new Street View Trekker backpack
    Wearables
    Google’s new Street View backpack drops some weight and ups the resolution
    It has been years since Google’s influential Street View left the roads and began to map everything from shopping centers to hiking trails. The device that made this happen was called the Street View Trekker, and Google just revealed an updated model.
  • The imaging and mapping potential of drones flying high above the ground is well enough documented, but they also hold great potential for environments deep beneath the Earth's surface
    Drones
    Hovermap drones dive underground to autonomously map mines and tunnels
    The potential of drones flying through the sky is well documented, but they also hold great potential for environments deep beneath the Earth's surface. Australian-based startup Emesant is developing drone software focused on the autonomous mapping of mines and tunnels.
  • The Aeromapper Talon Amphibious drone can make belly landings on the water, or parachute down to the ground
    Drones
    Amphibious drone performs belly landings on the water
    ​Ordinarily, fixed-wing mapping drones either just perform a traditional landing on the ground, or they parachute down to it. However, what if they're being used over the water? Well, that's where Aeromao's new Aeromapper Talon Amphibious drone comes in.
  • The MapLite test vehicle
    Automotive
    MapLite may take self-driving cars off the beaten path
    ​You might think that with all their cameras and other sensors, self-driving cars can handle any road in any location. That actually isn't the case, although it soon may be, thanks to MIT's new MapLite system.
  • Traditionally-traced roads, as they appear on Google Maps
    Science
    Better-performing mapping system searches the streets
    ​When it comes to making city maps based on aerial photos, manually tracing all the roads can be quite the hassle. As a result, we're now seeing computer programs that do so automatically. Scientists at MIT have developed a program of their own, that is promised to be even better at the job.
  • A new light-sensitive protein can be embedded into neuron membranes, where it emits a fluorescent light that could help neuroscientists understand how neurons connect and communicate inside the brain
    Science
    MIT imaging technique sheds light on the brain's electrical activity
    Researchers at MIT have developed an imaging technique that will help study exactly how electrical signals propagate through the brain, in an advance that could help us better understand Alzheimer's, epilepsy, and other brain disorders, as well as how thoughts and feelings are formed.
  • Render of the sensor-backed blimp being deployed to explore inaccessible areas of an ancient building or monument
    Robotics
    Hidden places to be explored by minimal impact blimp
    French researchers and the ScanPyramids project have joined forces to develop a new robot exploration platform. The current focus is on developing a two robot platform capable of looking into and mapping inaccessible areas of ancient buildings without blowing through doors and walls to do so.​
  • The Cupola Observation Module aboard the ISS, as seen through Google's Outer Space View
    Space
    Google Street View docks at the International Space Station
    Google Street View can take you to the some of the most remote regions of our planet, but the developers of the first-person mapping service see no reason to stop there. Starting today, you can use the tool to explore the ISS, the first time Street View has ventured beyond the Earth's surface.
  • The Elektra One Solar flew autonomously on a predetermined path over Landshut while carrying a complex payload of sensors, cameras and high speed data links which  transmitted the data to a ground station.
    Aircraft
    Elektra One Solar demonstrates 3D town mapping capabilities
    Elektra Solar demonstrated the capabilities of the company's Elektra One Solar​ aircraft earlier this month by mapping an historic German town in 3D. The low cost, low noise electric-solar aircraft was able to circulate silently just 300 meters over the town while it scanning the landscape below.
  • The Google Street View vehicles gathered more than three million unique pollution measurements
    Environment
    Google's Street View cars offer block-by-block pollution readings
    ​Tracking air pollution in a city can be an inexact science but researchers have now explored a way to offer block-by-block, highly localized data, and it involves fitting out Google Street View vehicles with air pollution monitors as they roam around town.
  • The path of the Moon's shadow moving across the United States during the during this year's total solar eclipse, also known as the path of totality, has been visualized using data from the  Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Earth-based topography information
    Space
    NASA plots 2017 solar eclipse path with best accuracy yet
    Combining elevation data gathered by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter with Earth topography data, NASA researchers have produced the most accurate map ever created for the path of totality​ of the total solar eclipse that will be seen across a large swath of the United States later this year.
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