Introducing Google Building Maker

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-google-building-maker.html

by fogus • 17 years ago

134 46 17 years ago

googleblog.blogspot.com

derefr• 17 years ago

If it really is "more like a game than a tool," then perhaps they should add a point system.

windsurfer• 17 years ago

I think implicit rewards are better than explicit rewards in this abstract non-linear system.

dschobel3• 17 years ago

Awesome. At the same time, it's yet another Google project which is just so massive in scope and resources that no one else will want to compete.

uuilly2• 17 years ago

I'm in this exact space and there are plenty of people competing. Nokia and Microsoft to name a few.

dschobel3• 17 years ago

In mapping or in building 3d models of real world buildings?

anigbrowl3• 17 years ago

There is competition, as noted above, plus you might find this interesting (requires a plugin, but worth it) http://www.c3technologies.com/en_demo.php

brown9-2• 17 years ago

If I understand this right, they are essentially crowdsourcing the addition of 3D models to Google Earth, no?

If so, that's a really great idea on how to get high-quality work done for lots and lots of cities, for almost free...

cake• 17 years ago

I think they are.

I havn't explored this yet but from what I've seen there is no competition or extra bonus for modeling a building. I think it could be really successful if it was turned into some sort of game.

mediaman2• 17 years ago

There are a lot of people who really enjoy this sort of thing. For example, there are online forums for skyscraper enthusiasts that attract pretty big audiences. I think given the interest out there, it will be successful regardless, for much the same reasons that some people enjoy woodworking as a hobby.

Some way to publicize one's work -- to get more recognition for it -- would certainly make it even more successful though.

hazzen• 17 years ago

See the works of Luis von Ahn (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~biglou/), specifically his GWAP project (http://www.gwap.com/gwap/). He has created several web games that provide training for machine learning algorithms while at the same time entertaining users and brining them back for more. The games are very successful, and from the talk of his I heard, it sounds like the data is proving useful.

araneae• 17 years ago

"Building Maker is not available for Linux/mobile devices."

chrischen• 17 years ago

All you need is Windows or Mac and to be online.

EDIT: Apparently Firefox or IE too.

buro9• 17 years ago

Or Chrome ;)

TheBranca18• 17 years ago

Yeah I'm disappointed and too lazy to open up VirtualBox. Building Maker is probably better off anyway without my contributions.

mooneater• 17 years ago

Sounds like simple crowd sourcing. But please note what they are really doing.

They are providing an ideal training set for training machine learning algorithms to automatically extract 3D models from aerial photos.

Yes, so they can replace the crowd with bots.

Edit: spelling.

Kaizyn• 17 years ago

Yeah. This is a bit ridiculous, conning people into working for them for free at this project by calling it a game. What is up next - the "improve my search algorithm" game?

josefresco• 17 years ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they already have something in the pipe, seeing as how they already have this:

http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/

snprbob86• 17 years ago

I think it's win-win. Google gets data and somebody somewhere is happy to be doing something more productive than FarmVille or some other wacky Facebook game people like you and I avoid like the plauge. Hell, I'd pit building makers against each other by having leaderboards of number of buildings, average building rating on a 5-star scale, etc.

dschobel3• 17 years ago

Outsourcing research isn't that crazy: http://www.netflixprize.com/

RyanMcGreal• 17 years ago

>What is up next - the "improve my search algorithm" game?

http://www.netflixprize.com/

fogus• 17 years ago

It's a bit unfair to call it a con. You can choose to try it or not. Likewise you can enjoy doing it or not.

NathanKP• 17 years ago

It actually is pretty fascinating. I sat down to test it and ended up modeling four buildings in my downtown area. ;)

It works quite well and it is actually rather nice to see the building go up. It will be even nicer if I get to see them included in Google Earth. We'll see.....

At any rate what I am saying is that I don't mind working for them for free.

pbhjpbhj• 17 years ago

Why not, worked for the image service .. I played a few times it was kinda fun in a waste-a-few-minutes way. Pretty good vocab tester, think of different ways to describe a scene, think of ways that your "opponent" is likely to use, think of the most complex way that is still likely enough (more points).

Xichekolas• 17 years ago

It works both ways... why do you think Google offers free 411 service?

(hint: voicemail transcription)

tudorachim• 17 years ago

It's true, but since everybody has access to the test images (so they can label them), and the models (through google earth), it seems like anybody can train whatever algorithm they want on the same set.

cousin_it• 17 years ago

I think it's forbidden. Check the terms of use for Google Earth imagery and models.

iansimon3• 17 years ago

Depending on how much us humans contribute, there might not be much left for the bots.

jrussino• 17 years ago

The problem that they want to solve is: "How do we create a three-dimensional model of every built structure on Earth? How do we make sure it's accurate, that it stays current and that it's useful to everyone who might want to use it?"

I think "stays current" is an important part of the question. Over a period of many years, buildings in an area are taken down and new ones are built.

Maybe Google will have an enthusiastic mass of people contributing to this project, and end up with good models of most of the buildings out there right now... but in ten years, are people still going to be doing this for them? I think mooneater's suggestion makes sense if you look at growing this into something big and robust in the long term.

periferral• 17 years ago

great. now google wants to employ us for free. we do all the work and they have a nice database of 3d building in earth.

anigbrowl3• 17 years ago

Well, we get to use this nice database too. Except my house is just outside their current coverage area :-/ But if you want a feel for how impressive it can be, try roving around, say, downtown San Francisco.

jws• 17 years ago

No Snow Leopard support, plus a bad error message that fails to communicate that.

Google owes me 180 seconds of my life back, well I guess they've saved me more than that, we'll call it even.

mediaman2• 17 years ago

Works in Firefox on Snow Leopard, but not Safari.

saurabh• 17 years ago

Who owns the data generated by crowdsourcing modelling? This data needs to be open rather than owned by a single company. I hope its open. Any info on this?

chrisconley• 17 years ago

Maybe I'm a little slow, but I finally see where they were going with the Sketchup acquisition.

defdac• 17 years ago

How come Nordic cities like Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki is so well built already, but not Stockholm and Swedish cities?

iterationx• 17 years ago

I tried to run photos from google street view tokyo through insight3d but they weren't high rez enough http://insight3d.sourceforge.net/

elblanco• 17 years ago

I get stuff from Google for free, why not let them get something back?

c00p3r• 17 years ago

Is there are startups to help the millions of small and medium size private hotels around the world to appear on the map? =))

TobiasCassell• 17 years ago

Maybe this is relevant?

This is the organization that created AutoModeling- http://www.acvt.com.au/research/videotrace/

This firm is working with it- http://punchcard.com.au/wordpress/

Introducing Google Building Maker

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