Kurt's Weblog

Google Ocean new data

Kurt — 2012-02-02T11:30:32-05:00

Today the Google LatLong blog announced the new bathymetry update in Google Earth. I'm having a blast working on Oceans in the Geo group at Google. The work on this release was done before I got to Google, so I had very little to do with the release, but I'm super excited to work with the community at making Google Oceans even more useful than it already is!

Read the whole post here! A clearer view of the seafloor in Google Earth [ Google Lat Long Blog ]

Google Earth Ocean Terrain Receives Major Update - Data from Scripps, NOAA sharpen resolution of seafloor maps, correct "discovery" of Atlantis [ SIO ]

The bathymetry goes well with the just released better look for land: Google Earth 6.2: It's a beautiful world

You can try out the historical image button to see before and after at the moment (this might not be available down the road).

libais fixes by Roland

Kurt — 2012-02-01T09:18:35-05:00

Thanks go to Roland for catching some bad code in libais that has been in there the entire time. I was masking the parents member data with child definitions of the same member variables. Not good! This is an awesome demonstration of getting more eyes on code.

This libais build system is definitely a mess, but at least the code base is getting better.

libais in github

emacs rocks

Kurt — 2012-01-28T08:26:35-05:00

The emacsrocks channel on youtube looks pretty awesome. The first episode shows you C-x r t for retangular region replace. Nice!

John Konrad gives a play by play of the Costa Concordia

Kurt — 2012-01-22T07:47:40-05:00
John did an excellent job describing what was going on with the Costa Concordia based on what is visible in the AIS vessel tracking data. gCaptain’s John Konrad Narrates the Final Maneuvers of the Costa Concordia. He was on a small sail boat at the time so there is some wave noise in the video. I hope John makes another video once the details are out. The vessel should have the maritime equivalent of a black box recorder called a Voyage Data Recorder (VDR). These devices are supposed to record the thruster and rudder commands along with a voice recording of the bridge.

Reconstruction of the Costa Concordia Tragedy, Narration by John Konrad from gCaptain.com on Vimeo.

GNU m4 - a macro language

Kurt — 2012-01-22T07:12:59-05:00
Learning new programming languages, especially if they are very different from what you are accustomed to, is good for the mind. Hoever, IMHO, the only reason to learn GNU m4 is help with understanding GNU autoconf. There are so many "better" templating systems out there that you can now use. My current favorite is to write python with the format string method. e.g.
'{0} for position or {name} to use var name'.format('by number',2,3,4,name='var name')
gives
'by number for position or var name to use var name'
And it gets easier when you use "**locals()" to expand everything into your template environment for initial development. Warning the locals function can end up being super slow.

I just spent some time with Michael Breen's Notes on the M4 Macro Language. This was a good way to get familar with the language and I added what I built to my github template repository: overview.m4
#!/usr/bin/env m4 dnl -*- compile-command: "m4 --define=REPLACEME=Rascal --define=CAT=yes try.m4" -*- dnl the first line ends up in the output if you ./try.m4 dnl The second line tells emacs how we want to run this command with M-x compile dnl SEE ALSO: http://mbreen.com/m4.html dnl This file should be considered public domain. -Kurt Schwehr 2012-Jan-21 NOTE: why would be use m4 rather than python? Outside of GNU autoconf, I really think we should not be using m4. Please use python with the string ".format" method instead. # This is a comment in m4 that goes through dnl is do not print to the end of the line dnl define(AUTHOR, Kurt Schwehr) `AUTHOR' is AUTHOR and there is a newline in there??? define(TITLE, M4 language by example)dnl This TITLE has no newline dnl `#' is not a comment hash. Macros will still work... TITLE dnl The next line comes from the --define command line This REPLACEME is comes from outside the file define(MacroWithNewline, `line with newline after the first with')dnl Use MacroWithNewline here. define(PARENS, ())dnl brackets: PARENS undefine(`PARENS')dnl MUST quote the value PARENS define(LPAREN,`(')dnl define(RPAREN,`)')dnl LPAREN bracketed RPAREN dnl -> ( bracketed ) define(`LEFT',`[')dnl LEFTSQUARE define(`LEFT',`{')dnl LEFTCURL define(`plus', `+')dnl plusplus # oops! plus()plus # works! define(`oper', `plus') oper()oper # oops! oper`'oper # best define(`oper',`plus`'')dnl safest oper()plus ifelse(`provides multiline comments')dnl CAT ifdef(`CAT',We have a cat) ifdef(`HORSE',We have a horse) # No. We do not have a horse define(a,1)dnl define(b,1)dnl define(c,3)dnl define(d,4)dnl a b ifelse(a,b,c,d) define(`b',2)dnl a b ifelse(a,b,c,d) We have math 1+1 => eval(1+1) 2**8 => eval(2**8) incr(41) bools: 0 || 1 => eval(0||1) 0 && 1 => eval(0&&1) len(`string length') substr(`my string',1,3) counts start at 0 and includes the character at position [3] (4th) dnl You can call external programs syscmd(`ls -l')
I feel like I have a much better handle on what it is to be m4. The parts on looping demonstrate how constrained/annoying the language is.

Down With Gravity

Kurt — 2012-01-18T21:22:24-05:00
This makes me wonder what happened to my juggling pins! Yeah, I was never even close to this level.

Prowd to be a googler

Kurt — 2012-01-18T07:34:48-05:00
Protect IP and SOPA are just out and out dumb. I have lots of respect for people who create content, but non for the MPAA, RIAA, the software equivalent thing called the BSA.

I am glad that wikipedia is doing this, but ouch! I needed to look something up this morning. Dear congress, make the insanity stop.

Google's End Piracy, Not Liberty.

AIS time series of the Costa Concordia grounding

Kurt — 2012-01-16T19:47:17-05:00
I'm glad someone else was doing an AIS time series plot. I've done enough of them to last a life time.

Brian Fitzpatrick posted on G+ about the Costa Concordia. The track makes you wonder what in world was happening on the ship! Was there a mechanical failure or something to seriously distract the bridge crew (like small non-AIS vessels in the way)? It would be better visualized with a chart rather than just shorelines.

MB-System and the USCGC Healy

Kurt — 2012-01-16T13:13:33-05:00
Dale, Monica and I tested Google Hangout today to make sure we could do video, chat, screen sharing etc. I even tried the Reindeer button. I wish I were able to actually be there for all the MB-System discussions, but a handout is the next best thing.

On my list of things to do is to fix my code that handles science and image data from the USCGC Healy. Dale pointed out that the Aloftcon camera has snapped some spectacular images in the last few days.

First, the Healy showing the ship it is trying to get to Nome, AK: 20120111-0101.jpeg

Nightime view of the ice with the lights of Nome off in the distance:

20120111-1601.jpeg

Video introduction to fink

Kurt — 2012-01-15T15:53:48-05:00
If you are new to using fink on the Mac for installing software, I hope this helps you get more comfortable with the process!