-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        DARPA Network Challenge
Date:   Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:52:32 -0700
From:   Chris 'Xenon' Hanson <[log in to unmask]>
To:     [log in to unmask]


DARPA, the folks that originally inverted the Internet, are having a wacky
spatially-related contest this weekend involving GPS, GIS and mapping:
http://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/


  There has already been much speculation about using GIS or remote sensing to located the
balloons, but much of it is hindered by the fact that there is no good/fast/widely
available imagery one could search. One could probably eliminate much of the US by
buffering the road network, since the rules state the targets will be visible from a road,
but it still leaves a huge unknown area. One team claims to have even predicted where 1-5
of the balloons will be based "(thanks to help from Mekow334 and HotJazz, our expert
balloon sleuths, who know their way around a satellite and a GPS log like nobody else!)"

  I'm somewhat skeptical, since their countdown clock isn't even counting down to the
right time.




I’ve established a team of my own, called Team DeciNena. We will win because we have the
wittiest name. ;)

No, seriously, whomever wins will be using a mixture of all sorts of tactics from team
recruiting to passive data mining. I'm sure there will be a lot of disinformation out
there, and it will be important to combat it. We are using a mashup of GIS/GoogleMaps
technologies in a Drupal-based Content Management System to coordinate our team. If we get
a report, we can spatially query our member database to find other nearby team members who
can confirm the report. We're also experimenting with Google Wave to see if it has
anything interesting to offer.

Join us, it's free, and you could actually win something. We're even sharing some reward
money with those team participants who DON'T themselves find a balloon.

http://decinena.com

--
Chris 'Xenon' Hanson, omo sanza lettere                  Xenon AlphaPixel.com
PixelSense Landsat processing now available! http://www.alphapixel.com/demos/
"There is no Truth. There is only Perception. To Perceive is to Exist." - Xen