| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
22 Mar 2005 10:07:27 AM |
| Object: |
OT: Aerial photos could track home projects |
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1111321203140000.xml
Aerial photos could track home projects
County mulls deal with high-tech firm
GENESEE COUNTY
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, March 20, 2005
By Marjory Raymer
mraymer@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6325
New technology soon could let government officials look right into
your back yard to see your new deck - and then check whether you filed
the proper permits.
Genesee County officials are considering using Pictometry Visual
Intelligence, a new, ultra-detailed data and aerial photograph system
that can show a picture from up to 12 different angles and lets users
combine the pictures with all sorts of material - even a tool to
measure how big that deck is.
"What we tell our customers is, with this system you can see
everywhere, measure anything and plan everything that you want to
plan," said Dante Pennacchia, senior vice president of marketing and
sales for Pictometry International Corp.
The program would allow firefighters to see how tall buildings are,
SWAT teams to plan escape routes and 911 operators to see exactly
where people in need are, Pennacchia said.
The Pictometry system would cost an estimated $250,000, with Genesee
County and local municipalities picking up the tab.
But some taxpayers may not be thrilled by the Big Brother aspects of
the system and the prospect of government peering too closely into
their space.
Pat McDougall, 53, of Flint, whose taxes keep going up because
assessors find improvements to his property, said he doesn't like the
idea.
"I just personally think it's very intrusive," McDougall said. "What
if your daughter is laying out in the back yard sunning herself?"
Gregory Gibbs, chairman of the Greater Flint chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union, said courts have ruled that aerial photographs
are not an invasion of privacy, but he worries how far government will
push the technology.
"The back yard - that is a special place. It's an extension of the
home for a lot of people," Gibbs said. "From (the ACLU's) standpoint,
we are very concerned about the use of technology that invades the
privacy of the average citizen. We watch it very closely."
Company and local officials said protecting personal privacy should
not be a concern for residents.
Only government entities are supposed to have access to the photos,
and the pictures are taken only every two years, so it's not like the
government can look and see what's happening in your back yard at any
given moment, said Robert Carra, director of geographic information
systems for the county, who is heading a committee considering the
project.
And, Pennacchia said, it's important to realize that the system's zoom
capabilities are limited because the pictures become blurry squares
called pixels under high magnification. Faces and license plates are
never distinguishable using the software, Pennacchia said.
"We've chosen just the right balance between privacy and being able to
see things on buildings," he said.
As for that deck scenario, though, it's real life.
Craig Witmer, district manager for Pictometry out of Indianapolis,
last week showed a group of township officials how the detailed images
could show line striping on roads, home plate on baseball fields and
backyard decks.
As a first-time homeowner, Witmer said, he didn't realize he needed a
permit for a deck on his house and got caught by county officials
using his own software.
Aerial photography including pictures of back yards across the county
is nothing new. Genesee County, like most counties, has long used
aerial photographs in planning offices.
Traditionally, though, the photographs are taken looking straight
down, which show outlines of buildings. Taken from a higher altitude,
the photos also have less detail.
Pictometry takes pictures at an angle from multiple cameras mounted on
the bottoms of planes, and at two altitudes to give perspective.
It also combines the pictures with other data so users can pick out
addresses or coordinates, see property lines, calculate distances and
areas and even measure the slope of hills.
"This is something brand new for us and fairly new in the industry,"
said Bob Slattery, director of information systems and planning for
the Genesee County Road Commission. "It's not just the newness that's
cool about it. It's the uses."
The federal government, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and 125 counties
nationwide already use Pictometry, a 4-year-old system.
Genesee County could be the first in Michigan to employ the system,
although Jackson County also is considering it.
Genesee County officials are still in the early stages of considering
Pictometry. The earliest the system could go into effect is probably
this fall, Carra said.
© 2005 Flint Journal.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "Part_Time_Troll" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Aerial photos could track home projects |
22 Mar 2005 08:44:52 PM |
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stoney <stoney@the.net> in news:nig04114p6oofqkc240fdmoscosdtvng1g@4ax.com:
"I just personally think it's very intrusive," McDougall said. "What if
your daughter is laying out in the back yard sunning herself?"
pictometry profits from the "windfall" after selling the snatch clip to web porn sites.
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| User: "Part_Time_Troll" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Aerial photos could track home projects |
22 Mar 2005 08:45:51 PM |
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stoney <stoney@the.net> in news:nig04114p6oofqkc240fdmoscosdtvng1g@4ax.com:
It also combines the pictures with other data so users can pick out
addresses or coordinates, see property lines, calculate distances and
areas and even measure the slope of hills.
"This is something brand new for us and fairly new in the industry,"
said Bob Slattery, director of information systems and planning for
the Genesee County Road Commission. "It's not just the newness that's
cool about it. It's the uses."
osama would love to infiltrate the DC code enforcement offices.
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| User: "MsAnthrope" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Aerial photos could track home projects |
22 Mar 2005 09:34:33 PM |
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On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 02:45:51 +0000 (UTC), "Part_Time_Troll"
<Part_Time_Troll@D_Bridge.Com> wrote:
osama would love to infiltrate the DC code enforcement offices.
Osama would love to stick his head out of his spider hole too, but he
daren't.
--
MsAnthrope
http://web.newsguy.com/rubyred
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Aerial photos could track home projects |
24 Mar 2005 12:02:35 PM |
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On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 19:34:33 -0800, MsAnthrope <ms@nthr.ope> wrote:
On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 02:45:51 +0000 (UTC), "Part_Time_Troll"
<Part_Time_Troll@D_Bridge.Com> wrote:
osama would love to infiltrate the DC code enforcement offices.
Osama would love to stick his head out of his spider hole too, but he
daren't.
I'm sure he wanders almost where he wills.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
.
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