Landmarks on the move: Producing and understanding references to moving landmarks

There is a general agreement that landmarks in route directions should be perceptually salient and stable objects. Yet, other attributes, such as (animated) motion, can also attract visual attention and make entities salient. In the present study, we investigate if and when speakers refer to moving entities in route directions and how listeners evaluate such instructions. We asked speakers to watch short videos of different crossroads with and without moving landmarks and give directions to listeners, who in turn had to choose a street on which to continue (Experiment 1) or choose the instruction they most preferred among three route directions (Experiment 2). Results reveal that speakers mentioned moving entities, especially when the trajectory was informative for the place where a turn should be taken (Experiment 1). Listeners had no problem understanding instructions with moving landmarks (Experiment 1). Yet, participants chose instructions with stable landmarks more often (Experiment 2). These results are discussed in relation to automatic route directions generation.     

Development of Landmark Knowledge at Decision Points

Two experiments investigated how people develop different landmark knowledge at decision points. Participants learned a route in a virtual city once or five times. One distinctive landmark was placed at each intersection of the route. At test, participants were released at each intersection according to the learning order and were required to determine the turning direction. At each intersection, the landmark was removed (no landmark), correctly placed (one landmark), duplicated on the other side (two identical landmarks), or misplaced from another intersection (two different landmarks) to disrupt the landmark sequence. The results suggested that humans develop different landmark knowledge (landmark knowledge for guidance, landmark knowledge for place recognition and knowledge of landmark sequence) with different navigation experience.     

Is Memory for Routes Enhanced by an Environment's Richness in Visual Landmarks?

We tested the hypothesis that a route's memorability is dependent on the frequency with which people are exposed to visual landmarks. Undergraduates learned either a route through an urban area lacking visually salient features, or a route in a neighborhood with many shops and urban objects. They were then asked to recall the learned route in the form of route directions and sketch maps. The results showed higher recall performance for the richer environment. When presented with photographs depicting scenes along the route, participants exposed to the richer environment had higher recognition scores and shorter response times than the others. The data confirm the functional role of landmarks in route memory and wayfinding.     

The acquisition of survey knowledge for local and global landmark configurations under time pressure

The influence of stress states on cognition is widely recognized. However, the manner in which stress affects survey knowledge acquisition is still unresolved. For the present study, we investigated whether survey knowledge acquisition during a stressful task (i.e., under time pressure) is more accurate for the mental representation of global or local landmarks. Participants navigated through virtual cities with a navigation aid and explicit learning instructions for different landmark configurations. Participants’ judgments of relative direction (JRDs) suggest that global landmark configurations were not represented more accurately than local landmark configurations and that survey knowledge acquisition was not impaired under time pressure. In contrast to prior findings, our results indicate the limitations of the utility of global landmarks for spatial knowledge acquisition.     

基于分水岭变换的单幅高分辨率SAR图像建筑物检测方法

提出了一种从单幅高分辨率SAR图像中检测建筑物的算法框架。该框架主要以应用 标记的分水岭变换为基础,针对SAR图像中建筑物所具有的强回波特性与典型的形状特征, 主要采用CFAR检测和文中提出的方向相关分析方法得到标记图像,利用最小强制技术和标记 图像修改原始图像的梯度图,对修改后的梯度图作分水岭变换得到建筑物目标的边界轮廓。 该方法能够引入建筑物目标的特性同时克服分水岭变换固有的过分割缺陷。文中对不同场景 的高分辨率SAR图像进行了实验,实验结果表明,即使在建筑物分布密集的情况下,本文算 法也能正确完整地检测出绝大多数目标,检测率高而虚警率低。     

Selection of Salient Features for Route Directions

People navigating in unfamiliar environments rely on wayfinding directions, either given by people familiar with the place, or given by maps or wayfinding services. The essential role of landmarks in human route communication is well-known. However, mapping the human ability to select landmarks ad hoc for route directions to a computational model was never tried before. Wayfinding services manage the problem by using predefined points of interest. These points are not automatically identified, and they are not related to any route. In contrast, here a computational model is presented that selects salient features along a route where needed, e.g., at decision points. We propose measures to formally specify the salience of a feature. The observed values of these measures are subject to stochastical tests in order to identify the most salient features from datasets. The proposed model is implemented and checked for computability with a use case from the city of Vienna. It is also crosschecked with a human subject survey for landmarks along a given route. The survey provides evidence that the proposed model selects features that are strongly correlated to human concepts of landmarks. Hence, integrating the selected salient features in wayfinding directions will produce directions with lower cognitive workload and higher success rates, compared to directions based only on geometry, or on geometry and static points of interest.     

An analysis of peculiarities of the satellite autonomous navigation in sighting unknown landmarks on the planet surface

An analysis of characteristics of autonomous navigation by using optical sighting of unknown landmarks was carried out for artificial satellites in circular orbits around the Earth with altitudes from 300 to 900 km. It is shown that navigational errors vary approximately in inverse proportion to duration of measurements. Also they decrease with an increasing number of sighted landmarks. The errors poorly depend on the orbit altitude if the duration of measurement for each landmark is chosen in proportion to the orbit altitude, or a maximal zenith angle of sighting the landmark remains constant.Some characteristics of the navigational algorithm are given. Admissible deviations of initial orbital elements from their exact values are investigated. For a properly chosen measurement procedure the algorithm proves to be stable even for rather crudely given initial parameters.     

采用双目视觉测量的行星着陆相对导航方法

针对缺少行星表面陆标位置和探测器初始状态等先验信息情况下行星着陆导航问题,提出一种采用双目视觉测量的行星着陆相对导航方法。首先,利用行星表面陆标的双目视觉测量信息建立相对导航坐标系并计算陆标在相对导航坐标系下的位置,然后利用基于奇异值分解（SVD）的优化方法得到探测器在相对导航坐标系下的初始状态估计,最后利用陆标的视觉测量信息估计探测器在相对导航坐标系下的位置、速度和姿态。以火星着陆为例进行数学仿真分析,仿真结果表明本文提出的方法是有效可行的。     

Experiments to Examine the Situated Nature of Geoscientific Concepts

ABSTRACT

Ontologies are being developed in many geoscientific domains. They are typically populated with two types of concepts: upper-level concepts that apply across many or all domains, and domain concepts that apply only within a specific domain. Previous work has refined this distinction by identifying a particular type of domain concept, called a situated concept, which is dependent on specific processes (natural, social, scientific, or possibly machine) for its meaning and is instantiated amongst entities within a specific geographical and historical context. In this paper we present new support for situated geoscientific concepts, building on our previous research that argues for the importance of situations in the development and use of concepts related to geoscientific field mapping. The new results are obtained by using statistical techniques to further analyze three geologists' field data over time, to better test the hypothesis that the concepts developed by the geologists to classify objects on the map are in fact situated. The field data are compared to each other, and to the concepts developed by the team. Differences found between and within individuals' data for three map concepts provide strong support for the idea that the concepts are variably influenced by data, theory, and natural and human situations. From this increased corroboration of situated concepts we suggest two implications for domain ontologies: (1) a delineation between situated domain concepts and non-situated domain concepts; and (2) recognition that representation of reliable meaning involves the capture of historical and geographical context for situated concepts.     

Editorial: Cognitive Semantics and Spatio-Temporal Ontologies

How do people describe the location of a target object to another? This task requires a reference object or frame and terms of reference. Traditional linguistic analyses have loosely organized perspectives around people, objects, or environments as reference objects, using reference terms based on a viewpoint or the intrinsic sides of an object, such as left, right, front, and back or based on the environment, such as north, south, east, and west. In actual communication, social, spatial, and cognitive factors may also affect perspective choice. We examine those factors by varying the spatial information (landmarks and cardinal directions), the communication task (relative cognitive burden to speakers and addressees), and the culture of participants (American and Japanese). Speakers used addressees' perspectives more when addressees had the greater cognitive burden. They also used landmarks and cardinal directions when they were available, especially to avoid difficult discriminations like left/right. Some cases appearing to be perspective taking can be interpreted as using a person as a landmark. Finally, terms like near indicating close proximity were preferred to far and to terms requiring projection of directions. Globally, perspective choices of American and Japanese samples were strikingly similar; that is, Japanese did not select addressees' perspectives more than Americans. The traditional linguistic analyses need to be enhanced to account for effects of cognitive, situational, and social factors.     

大面积三维场景中的无人机碰撞检测快速算法

无人机实时监控与驾驶员模拟训练系统的三维可视化子系统具有计算无人机与其他物体 (包括山脉、树木、建筑物等 )碰撞可能性、具体碰撞点、碰撞方向和碰撞力量的功能。但无人机测控系统中的三维场景可视面积很大 ,场景中的物体数量庞大 ,至使碰撞检测的运算量很大 ,因而会大幅度降低三维场景的实时性。因此 ,设计快速有效的碰撞检查算法十分必要。作者设计的快速算法快速有效 ,效果良好     

Monitoring Object Orientation: Effects of Layout Complexity,Viewpoint Changes,and Object Function

Spatial short-term memory for single target positions is subject to distortions which depend on the spatial layout of visual landmarks. Here, participants had to reproduce the positions of briefly presented targets in the context of three-landmark configurations presented in various orientations. Symmetry properties of distortional patterns were determined by the intrinsic reference system of the landmark configuration as well as by the environment-or body-centered vertical axis. Symmetry was best about the cardinal axes of the landmark system irrespective of their orientation, but symmetry of non-cardinal axes was enhanced when these axes were aligned with the extrinsic vertical. Results are inconsistent with most current models of spatial memory distortions but in line with models explaining distortions in terms of attentional processes in topographical neuronal networks.     

Language cues in the formation of hierarchical representations of space

We study the role of place and region names in the formation of spatial hierarchies. Representations were probed behaviorally, i.e., by choices between two equidistant routes differing only in the number of regions they touched. Routes crossing fewer region boundaries are preferred over routes crossing more region boundaries. Visual landmark objects from a common semantic category placed in spatial vicinity induce region representations. Here we show that region dependent route preference is reduced if the landmark objects are replaced by signs displaying object names. The effects of explicit region names and linguistic properties of different naming schemes are discussed.     

Is Route Learning More Than Serial Learning?

Abstract

The nature of route learning in terms of the memorizing of landmarks was investigated. In Experiment 1, participants memorized landmarks while being guided through a computer-simulated hallway (dynamic, with spatial context), or while viewing the landmarks one by one in front of a black background (static, without context). Two more conditions completed the 2 × 2 design. One condition preserved the dynamic landmark viewing properties (observers approached each object, passed it, turned to the next object, and so on), but the background was black (dynamic, without context). In the other condition the observer saw a stationary display of each object within a hallway, but did not approach the object (static, with context). Serial recall was much better after viewing the landmarks in the dynamic presentation format with spatial context than in the other conditions. Experiment 2 showed that the superior performance in the dynamic condition with context was abolished when all hallway segments were equally long. This implies that metric information is a component of route knowledge at a very early stage, which is incompatible with the dominant framework, but is compatible with the alternative framework for spatial microgenesis.     

Strategy for detection of eccentric objects near the geosynchronous region

Detection of eccentric objects near the geosynchronous region is a very important issue. However, the extremely narrow fields-of-view of optical telescopes hinders us from identifying eccentric objects. An observation strategy to systematically detect these objects and determine their orbits precisely with one telescope is outlined in this presentation. Basically, one specific geosynchronous location (not one specific celestial position) is observed on two nights. Objects which pass through that location in the first night must pass through that location again in the second night. By identifying the same objects from two nights of data, rough orbits for those objects are determined. A third night is needed for precise orbital determination. An application of this strategy to the observation for Titan fragments is also discussed.     

一种遥感图像建筑物检测新方法

遥感图像中的建筑物检测对于土地规划和地图绘制等具有重要意义。文章针对高分辨率全色遥感图像植被覆盖中隐蔽建筑物检测问题,提出了一种结合屋顶结构信息和纹理信息的快速房屋检测方法。首先利用屋顶边缘的几何关系寻找具有矩形屋顶的建筑物;然后使用形态学方法提取屋顶较亮的建筑物;最后利用局部二值模式（Local Binary Pattern,LBP）描述屋顶的纹理特征,并利用支持向量机（Support Vector Machine,SVM）排除误检区域。通过在全色遥感图像集上的试验证明,所提方法对高分辨率遥感图像植被覆盖区域中的建筑物目标具有较高检测率和较低误检率。     

Place learning in humans: The role of distance and direction information

Although the process of establishing a memoryof a location is necessary for navigation,relatively little is known about theinformation that humans use when forming placememories. We examined the relative importanceof distance and angular information aboutlandmarks in place learning. Participantsrepeatedly learned a target location inrelation to three distinct landmarks in animmersive computer-generated (virtual)environment. Later, during testing, theyattempted to return to that location. Theconfigurations of landmarks used during testingwere altered from those participants learned inorder to separate the effects of metricdistance information and information aboutinter-landmark angles. In general,participants showed greater reliance ondistance information than angular information. This reliance was affected by nonmetricrelationships present during learning, as wellas by the degree to which the learnedenvironment contained right or straightangles.     

A laser-optical system to re-enter or lower low Earth orbit space debris

Collisions among existing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) debris are now a main source of new debris, threatening future use of LEO space. Due to their greater number, small (1–10 cm) debris are the main threat, while large (>10 cm) objects are the main source of new debris. Flying up and interacting with each large object is inefficient due to the energy cost of orbit plane changes, and quite expensive per object removed. Strategically, it is imperative to remove both small and large debris. Laser-Orbital-Debris-Removal (LODR), is the only solution that can address both large and small debris. In this paper, we briefly review ground-based LODR, and discuss how a polar location can dramatically increase its effectiveness for the important class of sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) objects. With 20% clear weather, a laser-optical system at either pole could lower the 8-ton ENVISAT by 40 km in about 8 weeks, reducing the hazard it represents by a factor of four. We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a space-based LODR system. We estimate cost per object removed for these systems. International cooperation is essential for designing, building and operating any such system.