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‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

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Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#31

Post by thevagrant »

jmgao wrote: post #13
ascar wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I get it from reading around Wikipedia they actually had something very similar to Google Earth before Google Earth/Maps happened. So I don't think it's fair to bring this in connection with patent trolls. However, Google didn't seem to copy any of their tech but just implemented the same idea (a searchable/zoomable globe/map), which doesn't strike me as surprising as the idea isn't too farfetched and the tech is…

Looking at the federal court decision [1], it looks like the patent was predated by an implementation that was demonstrated at SIGGRAPH, and apparently the creator of that gave the source code to the plaintiffs?! "Lau further testified that, at the SIGGRAPH '95 conference, he performed live demonstrations of SRI TerraVision to at least 500 people, and in fact “gave [ ] the source code to TerraVision” to Art+Com emplo…

Didn't Art+Com demo their version in 1994?

The court case was based on the patent date? which would be later?

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#32

Post by jcun4128 »

LordOfWolves wrote: post #30
remh wrote: post #17

Started watching the show, it is way too dramatized but still interesting. The actual demo of Terravision is indeed mind blowing if you remember how powerful computers in 1994 were: http://www.joachimsauter.com/img/big693.mp4

This is quite impressive for ‘94, thank you for sharing. I found it funny - in a “how ridiculous/silly” kind of way - that at 4:40 we get to look inside a building by entering through its windows, but here we are in the 21st century with that exact capability. Individuals providing photos and/or footage of the interior of their commercial space does not seem so silly these days.

I was thinking it's funny the literal globe interface you use and then this knob you turn that's held by this arm.

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#33

Post by ehsankia »

remh wrote: post #17

Started watching the show, it is way too dramatized but still interesting. The actual demo of Terravision is indeed mind blowing if you remember how powerful computers in 1994 were: http://www.joachimsauter.com/img/big693.mp4

> Started watching the show, it is way too dramatized but still interesting.

I don't mind dramatization, but 4.5h seems quite steep for such a simple video that seems like it could be covered in a 20m Youtube video. Do you have a rough review if you ended up watching more of it if it's just really dragged on or actually contains a lot of content?

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#34

Post by ur-whale »

remh wrote: post #17

Started watching the show, it is way too dramatized but still interesting. The actual demo of Terravision is indeed mind blowing if you remember how powerful computers in 1994 were: http://www.joachimsauter.com/img/big693.mp4

> mind blowing if you remember how powerful computers in 1994

In 1994, SGI workstations could pull off this kind of stuff rather effortlessly, the only "tricky" part was to get the LOD algorithm right.

So not that mind-blowing in practice.

It would only amazing if Terravision ran on a stock PC (did it?).

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#35

Post by ffhhj »

seabird wrote: post #27
rob74 wrote: post #6

Er... it's not entirely clear, but apparently the infringement claim was based on "the ability to zoom from the globe graphic all the way down to a particular neighborhood"?! So something a mildly talented programmer could come up with in (generously estimated) 1-2 days tops? And sure it looks cool, but claiming this animation is original enough to be patentable is stretching it a bit...

I strongly encourage you to try and achieve this in less than 24 working hours with the hardware and software that was available at that time. Even if you "cheat" and use high-end workstations and ~25 years of new knowledge and hindsight, even a talented programmer would likely struggle with this problem for multiple months.

Hmm, tech from '95... using VESA BIOS extension and high/extended memory modes, you might be able to modify Doom source code for the optimized 3D operations, but you'd still need to create a LODed-megatexture database and an API to serve it, unless you want users to "Insert CD 23 and press Enter".

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#36

Post by the-rc »

remh wrote: post #17

Started watching the show, it is way too dramatized but still interesting. The actual demo of Terravision is indeed mind blowing if you remember how powerful computers in 1994 were: http://www.joachimsauter.com/img/big693.mp4

That didn't run on a PC, it ran on Onyx servers, which had over 10 graphic processors.

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#37

Post by [deleted] »

rob74 wrote: post #6

Er... it's not entirely clear, but apparently the infringement claim was based on "the ability to zoom from the globe graphic all the way down to a particular neighborhood"?! So something a mildly talented programmer could come up with in (generously estimated) 1-2 days tops? And sure it looks cool, but claiming this animation is original enough to be patentable is stretching it a bit...

[deleted]

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#38

Post by the-rc »

ur-whale wrote: post #34
remh wrote: post #17

Started watching the show, it is way too dramatized but still interesting. The actual demo of Terravision is indeed mind blowing if you remember how powerful computers in 1994 were: http://www.joachimsauter.com/img/big693.mp4

> mind blowing if you remember how powerful computers in 1994 In 1994, SGI workstations could pull off this kind of stuff rather effortlessly, the only "tricky" part was to get the LOD algorithm right. So not that mind-blowing in practice. It would only amazing if Terravision ran on a stock PC (did it?).

Jones and Tanner created clip mapping, first in SGI hardware, then in software. That's what made Keyhole and thus Google Earth possible on consumer machines. Is the allegation that it was all stolen? They could have invalidated SGI's patents. And no, Terravision didn't run on a stock PC, it ran on Onyx hardware. Plus it relied on an ATM connection! Even then, the demo has a bunch of glitches and gaps, plus the zooming is so slow, all of which doesn't look like superior technology for Intrinsic/Keyhole to copy.

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#39

Post by cma »

jcun4128 wrote: post #32
LordOfWolves wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is quite impressive for ‘94, thank you for sharing. I found it funny - in a “how ridiculous/silly” kind of way - that at 4:40 we get to look inside a building by entering through its windows, but here we are in the 21st century with that exact capability. Individuals providing photos and/or footage of the interior of their commercial space does not seem so silly these days.

I was thinking it's funny the literal globe interface you use and then this knob you turn that's held by this arm.

> knob you turn

That's a 6-dof spacemouse, still widely used today in CAD and 3d modeling.

Re: ‘The Billion Dollar Code’: Developers Who Sued Over Google Earth Algorithm

#40

Post by jcun4128 »

cma wrote: post #39
jcun4128 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking it's funny the literal globe interface you use and then this knob you turn that's held by this arm.

> knob you turn That's a 6-dof spacemouse, still widely used today in CAD and 3d modeling.

oh wow, I had to watch a video to see how that works, I have seen them before but thought it was just rotating on a plane.
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