As created by SimCity.
So, here’s the problem: we’ve mapped space, we’ve mapped ocean currents, we’ve mapped the wind. We’re mapping the human genome, and we’ve mapped the vast majority of our evolutionary path from primordial ooze to NASCAR fan, and all the way up to human being. We’ve even, it seems, spent a great deal of time mapping out Middle Earth.
If there’s one thing that is quite obvious, it’s that we, as a species, like to draw things out and figure out where the hell we are in the grand scheme of things. Usually, that results in us realizing that we are naught but an insignificant speck in the grand scheme of things. But we’ve proved that with science, so that makes us feel proud of ourselves, if only for a moment.
What do we need to map out next?
Scythian tombs? Look at the stuff they left behind!
<img src="http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Images2/Scythian/Scythian_Art.jpg" />
Speaking of middle Earth:
<img src="http://www.liv.ac.uk/environmental-sciences/Research/Images/earthInterior.jpg" width="400">
We really could use better maps of the planet's interior than are to be found in the radially-symmetric models and other highly schematic representations typically encountered.
Yeah, I know, it's not easy and to their credit there are folks working on it.
I occasionally come across research where they're trying to sort out just what exactly is going on deep beneath our feet, and it always fascinates me at how much they can glean from so little information. I wonder what they could do with the data that would result from a couple of middling asteroid strikes occurring close together, say Barringer sized objects?
The strikes would be exciting, but the primary limitation these days is the number and distribution of high-quality instruments, not the size of the stimuli. A friend of mine is involved in the USArray project, in which a set of portable receivers is being swept systematically across the country:
<img src="http://www.iris.edu/earthscope/usarray/USArray-ByComp-wMTbb.gif" width="500">
They've also got some permanent stations and a set of instruments that can be deployed specifically to examine features of interest (the Flexible Array).
http://www.usarray.org/
I was just reading where the array was used to detect a small earthquake in Wisconsin, where they are trying figure out the source of some mysterious booming noises. The USArray is already being useful.
I would think that the worldwide distribution of seismic sensors, like the ones used for monitoring for nuke tests, would supply a decent amount of data from my strikes. I suppose that if you can't get at the data, it doesn't do you any good, which would probably be the case. Pity that. I've thought up several locations to drop rocks where it wouldn't be too inconvenient.
Slightly disconcerting that I'm 35 miles from something of enough interest to have that dense of an array studying it.
Google Street View doesn't violate our privacy enough! These people should be invited into our homes, our offices, our schools, and our military installations. We should have one application that allows us to tour the entire planet, indoors and out, from the comfort of our sofa. No more actual human interaction. No more contagions. Don't you people see? When you say "no" to the erosion of personal privacy, you're saying "yes" to the plague!
Nice sofa, buddy! But about those dirty dishes…
If I'm not mistaken Google is working on a "street view" for museums. (I'm probably mistaken)
I'm sure if you took a shit load of pictures of your house and sent them into Google they'll stitch them together and add them for you. Just tell them that you're on google plus, they'll for sure do that for you.