Past performance is no indicator of future success

An oft quoted maxim in the finance industry, I think it is also a hueristic we can apply to many other circumstances.

Now, in these paranoid says, I am rather loath to write anything on the issue of terror, because I still travel quite a bit both inside Australia and around the world, and it seems that you never know what you might say when and how can get misconstrued by someone somewhere, and you end up rather constrained in your travel movements.

But.

I can't help thinking about a number of recent incidents where folks have been detained and otherwise sanctioned for photographing buildings, and other public spaces (by the way, older readers like me will remember travellers tales, apocryphal or otherise, of those travelling to places like eastern europe, the Soviet Union, China, having their cameras confiscated, and worse, for photographing planes at airports and so on - typically these tales were told to underline the point that unlike our freedom loving countries, these states were so paranoid that they got hung up on tourist snaps.)

But where on earth could this rambling exegesis be going?

Has anyone seen photosynth? Now, as any more than casual reader knows, I am a geek, and cool technology excites me. This really is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Fullstop. It's almost impossible to adquately describe in words, so I suggest you take a look at this video - jump to about 5.40 to go or so (that's about 40% in) and just watch this.

Basically, it can take a photoset, like say from Flickr or Photobucket, and build a 3D model by analysing these photos and working out where they were taken and stitching them all together.

So, to have a 3D model of any prominent site, all you need is a photo set like those, and a copy of photsynth. And access to a computer and the net.
You don't need to visit the location, or take photos, or even go to that country.

So like much of the 'security' (5m high walls to keep APEC attendees in, no toothpaste on aircraft, Google Maps resolution of Satellite photos of Sydney suddenly becoming lower, and the like), that is supposed to keep us safe, curtailing the photography of public spaces is so much pantomime, impacting on our peaceful enjoyment of the short time alotted to us on this planet, diverting the energy and attention of those whose job it is to protect us, in what I won't argue at all are challenging times, away from genuinely threatening and dangerous behavior.

So, wait for the calls to ban services like flickr and applications like photosynth. They can't be too far off. 'All in the name of liberty'.

In the meantime, see the future of user generated content and crowd sourcing, and be inspired.