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Google Earth Used To Predict Electrical Problems

Posted by samzenpus on Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:05 PM
from the what-can't-it-do dept.
The Internet Businesses Google Power
coondoggie writes "What do you get when you combine images from Google Earth and the brainpower from researchers at Oak Ridge National Labs? Well in this case you get a tool that enables real-time status of the national electric grid that federal state and local agencies can use to coordinate and respond to major problems such as wide-area power outages, natural disasters and other catastrophic events. The Visualizing Energy Resources Dynamically on Earth (VERDE) system, announced this week, mashes together images and stats of everything from real-time status of the electric grid and weather information to power grid behavior modeling and simulation."
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Submission: Google Earth used to predict electrical problems by coondoggie (973519)
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  • I predict... (Score:5, Funny)

    by gardyloo (512791) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:09PM (#24506381)

    ...that posting such a story will inspire lots of slashdotters to go download or access Google Earth, and cause electrical problems.

  • Computer Heuristic Internet Longitudinal Environment for VERDE

  • Wha? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ejdmoo (193585) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:29PM (#24506469)

    How exactly does Google Earth predict *anything* at all?

    What it seems is someone wrote software to analyze the electrical grid, and they use the Google Maps API to visualize the geographic data.

    Yay.

    • Re:Wha? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Amorymeltzer (1213818) on Thursday August 07 2008, @12:11AM (#24506665)

      It's definitely a dubious title, especially since TFA says almost nothing about Google. I suppose, though, that they are technically using Google Earth in their predictions, because without it they'd have to write their own/use Mapquest. I'm sure a big part of it is getting to attach Google's name to something no one outside the department and government is really interested by, and I bet Google's happy to step in. Besides, GE is probably really nice to visualize their data with. Distance from major cities or energy producers, weather, temperature, terrain, etc.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Atario (673917)

      Where does anything say Google Earth is predicting anything? All I see is "...used to predict...".

      Don't let that stop you from ostentatiously acting bored, though.

    • Re:Wha? (Score:5, Funny)

      by houghi (78078) on Thursday August 07 2008, @05:57AM (#24507987) Homepage

      It sounds less sexy then Maps used to show location

    • You're absolutely right. My company uses Google Earth to manage the construction of transmission lines, which lets people know when and where the towers are going to be put up and helps our clients keep track of how close we are to schedule.

      • Google Earth Used to Construct Power Lines
      • Google Earth Used to Cure Cancer
      • Google Earth Used to Find the Closest White Castle

  • simple google (Score:4, Insightful)

    by twotailakitsune (1229480) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:35PM (#24506507)
    This is what, the 100th idea using Google Maps/Earth? they are just using the Google Maps API. Google is more open with people using Maps without paying some big Usage fee.

    What this is really about is the VERDE program. Now if Google was doing a real time status program I would have it sit on my screen all day.

    • Re:simple google (Score:5, Funny)

      by jaminJay (1198469) on Thursday August 07 2008, @12:39AM (#24506777) Homepage

      Now if Google was doing a real time status program I would have it sit on my screen all day.

      That way, when the screen goes black, you'd know the power went out?

    • What this is really about is the VERDE program.

      But if the subject didn't mention Google and the article didn't feature the maps, would it be news worth distributing?

      Certainly Google maps and it's API is one of the best internet tools of this decade, but I suspect that the database work and real time collection and analysis of this data, must have taken a tremendous effort. It's too bad that the pretty picture generated from the end result seems to get top billing.

      • When the lights get dimmer, the voltage is going down.

        They watch meters real time, predict load based on averages. This weeks load, time of day, last years load,etc. Oh, and they watch the Weather Channel.

        Failure prediction? They know what loads have caused failure before. Believe it or not, higher temps and loads (i squared r) cause the wires to stretch. They fail when they come in contact with earth(tree branches,etc) that causes a huge load swing. At 345,000 volts, wood is a conductor.

        So a prediction mod

    • >This is what, the 100th idea using Google Maps/Earth? they are just using the Google Maps API.

      Real time data with 10 year old satellite photos, what could possibly go wrong.

  • just a question (Score:3, Insightful)

    by silentphate (1245152) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:35PM (#24506509)
    If this is such a major development, why is it just now being created? Haven't we had the technology to do something like this for decades?
    • The concept of a simple common way to deal with data models is a process that seems to be heading towards standards which would be nice. Something like the openGL standards or blender file formats. If there were a standard way to represent complex interactive systems as even a bot script for a 3D world that could easily be shared like a language of systems interaction. I have been looking at littleb and that may evolve into a standard which can represent systems so that problems and solutions drift to the t

  • I am skeptical... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bogaboga (793279) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:37PM (#24506515)
    You know why? It is because data and images from Google Earth are not that up-to-date. In fact, several [new] roads in my county are not shown on Google Earth and Google Maps! So I am skeptical. Am I alone?

  • Sim City Stats (Score:5, Interesting)

    by neostorm (462848) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:41PM (#24506539)

    I am still waiting for Google Earth to fully encompass the feedback offered in games like Sim City, where I can search regions around the world for such things as Crime Statistics, Pollution, Economy, etc.

    There are plenty of other areas we can display information as well. They've already got traffic, terrain and now this. I am currently relocating to a new area as well, and actually tried to get crime stats on potential areas I'd be living in (thinking they may have already achieved that ability), they haven't got them yet, but I hope my wish list is not too far away.

    • Re:Sim City Stats (Score:5, Interesting)

      by littlerubberfeet (453565) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:51PM (#24506581)

      I was researching crime before a move as well. I was stuck using an absolutely horrible web-enabled wannabe GIS thing. Having used ArcGIS, I know what a decent GIS is capable of. Google Earth is well on its way to being able to display information the way ArcView does. A buffer wizard type tool would be a wonderful thing in Google Earth...The analytical side of things is not really suitable for the Google Earth architecture though.

      Yeah, Google would do well to integrate even census data (which includes some crime, pollution and economic data) into Google Earth.

    • I haven't updated Google Earth in a while, mostly because I haven't used it in a while, but last I saw it definitely had Crime Statistics. Pollution and Economy are both a little more ethereal, but moreover, they're for a much broader locale. I may wonder the crime stats in Manhattan versus Brooklyn, but what's it gonna say for Pollution, or Economy? Good and good? Corporate and yuppie? Those terms really apply to large areas, much greater than cities. As far as small towns are concerned, all the citi

    • I am still waiting for Google Earth to fully encompass the feedback offered in games like Sim City

      Sod that!

      I am still waiting for Google Earth to fully encompass the natural disasters offered in games like Sim City.

      Go Godzilla!

    • I am currently relocating to a new area as well, and actually tried to get crime stats on potential areas I'd be living in (thinking they may have already achieved that ability), they haven't got them yet, but I hope my wish list is not too far away.

      If you're moving to the UK, then go take a look at these guys [upmystreet.com], who have bought CACI's ACORN geodemographic dataset, and combined with publically available datasets on education, crime etc, to produce a view on what that area is like.

      Example [upmystreet.com] (where I used to l

    • I am still waiting for Google Earth to fully encompass the feedback offered in games like Sim City, where I can search regions around the world for such things as Crime Statistics, Pollution, Economy, etc.

      The method of collection of such statistics varies by country, so they are not easily comparable.

      One that I'm familiar with (from activism related to gun laws): Murder, accident, and suicide statistics. For instance:

      - Britain counts it as a murder when they have a conviction. US when they have a

  • HUH??? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Jane Q. Public (1010737) on Wednesday August 06 2008, @11:43PM (#24506547)
    Okay, I can see "recent" data... but anybody who really thinks that Google Earth is "realtime" is a serious candidate for the Happy Home.

    Some of the pictures are over 6 YEARS old...

  • Google Used To... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Google Earth Used To Predict Electrical Problems

    Too bad they don't anymore!

  • How do I view it without electricity? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Xoc-S (645831) on Thursday August 07 2008, @12:29AM (#24506743)
    If there is a power outage, how am I going to fire up my desktop machine and view Google Earth?
      • If you have DSL or a T-* line you are basically guaranteed to have a UPS'd and generator powered internet connection since the telco's are required to have emergency power. Sure if you use an ilec they may not have an agreement to hook their DSLAM to the telco power plant and remote shelfs don't all have generators, but the chances are pretty good. The cable companies are also pretty good about it since they are now offering voice service (though it's definitely not to the level of the telco's).

  • too late (Score:3, Funny)

    by Digitus1337 (671442) <lk_digitus@hotmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Thursday August 07 2008, @01:17AM (#24506905) Homepage
    The LHC goes online in just under a day; Google Earth is going to be obsolete, so how is this newsworthy?

    • The LHC goes online in just under a day; Google Earth is going to be obsolete

      Google Earth is an interactive map & the LHC is a particle accelerator. Frankly, I don't see wtf one has to do with the other (or how one could obsolete the other)...

      • Just to be pedantic, some people believe that the startup of the LHC will be a universe-ending event. Or in any case, something that will make a huge dent in the european part of the globe.

        • Wooosh indeed.

          Clearly my joke-a-meter needs recalibrating.

          Oh well, I am a mac fanboy - we're renowned for our humourlessness & obliviousness in the face of sarcasm ;-)

    • no problem, they'll just change the name to Google Strangelet-Star

  • So what happens when said outages or disasters take out ORNL's Internet access or Google's servers?

    Corporate-enabled mash-ups are *SO* 2007. Time to focus on open clouds of massively-distributed computing resources and cached storage. /soapbox

    • Something tells me the agency responsible for monitoring power outages might (and I'm just guessing here) have backup power and connectivity.

  • Anyone else misread the title as (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Google Earth Used To Predict Electoral Problems?

    And I'm not even American...

  • The real news (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hcdejong (561314) <acme@xm[ ]t.nl ['sne' in gap]> on Thursday August 07 2008, @03:14AM (#24507449)

    is that this is news at all:

    Major power outages in the United States over the past decade have a recurring theme - the lack of wide-area situational understanding was a key factor that contributed to blackouts.

    (emphasis mine)

    How can you expect to manage something as complex as a continental power grid without having the data you need? It's not like this capability has only recently become available.

  • I wonder how long it will take Homeland Security to pay these guys a visit to discuss classification of their work?

  • Links, video, and a follow-up program? (Score:3, Funny)

    by martyb (196687) on Thursday August 07 2008, @06:46AM (#24508197)

    Here's a bit more detail from the ORNL web site: http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v40_3_07/article13.shtml [ornl.gov] and http://www.ornl.gov/sci/electricdelivery/vis_VERDE.html [ornl.gov] where there are links to: VERDE video (WMV 81.2MB) [ornl.gov] (13m 54s)

    In the first-listed link above, I found this:

    "Major power outages in the United States over the past decade have a recurring theme--the lack of wide-area situational understanding," says Tom King, manager of electric transmission and distribution technologies for ORNL's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program. (emphasis added)

    As a follow-up, I hear they are planning a "Wide-Area Situational Understanding Program", aka WASUP! :)

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