[HN Gopher] HeyWhatsThat - Calculate viewshed and panorama for a...
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HeyWhatsThat - Calculate viewshed and panorama for any point on
Earth
Author : Rygian
Score : 380 points
Date : 2022-03-11 15:12 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.heywhatsthat.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.heywhatsthat.com)
| sytelus wrote:
| One thing I constantly look for in new place is where can I see
| sunsets? Where can I see unobstructed views of town? Which hill
| in San Franscisco can I climb to see panoramic sunset?
|
| It would be great to take this tool to next level to answer such
| questions.
| addandsubtract wrote:
| I was thinking the same thing. I recently found apps that let
| you see the direction of sunrises and sunsets (as well as moon
| directions) for any given location, but you wouldn't really
| know if the view is obstructed.
| sytelus wrote:
| Are there any open source version of such tool?
| oonerspism wrote:
| Not automated, that I know of.
|
| However, you could replicate the functionality/outputs (for a
| given location) by using open source GIS software, any
| available free geospatial data, and basic long-established GIS
| techniques: the DEM, the cross section, and the viewshed.
| beeskneecaps wrote:
| Super cool! I shared this with my HAM radio club. I think it
| could be a very useful tool for determining LOS for simplex
| communications!
| iaw wrote:
| This is really good work, I played around with a script to
| calculate this info from GIS data but the drawing of the view
| didn't even occur to me.
| scott113341 wrote:
| If you thing this is cool, also check out CalTopo (my favorite
| mapping software for backpacking):
|
| - https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=40.10094,-105.61557&z=15&b=m...
|
| - Right click and select "Simulated View"
|
| - Change to "WireImagery" in the upper right
| bscphil wrote:
| It's interesting how the simulated view makes errors in the
| terrain data obvious. The view from Santa Cruz island (off the
| coast of California) is almost completely obscured by single-
| pointed errors in the height map along the coast that didn't
| get cleaned from the data:
| https://caltopo.com/view#ll=34.0505,-119.8665&e=30&t=n&z=3&c...
| ge96 wrote:
| that is cool, the history url thing... hit back like a thousand
| times can't get out, I get the reason but still
| black_puppydog wrote:
| wow this is cool!
|
| but somehow the wireimagery setting doesn't work for any of the
| locations I've tried. it does work for the one you linked...
|
| Edit: oh... picked a random location in the USA instead and
| there it works. So... no Europe? what's up with that?
|
| Edit 2: also no south america apparently.
| nathancahill wrote:
| I also love CalTopo, and this is a really cool feature. But
| once you switch to WireImagery, FATMAP gets you the same thing
| (but better).
| dillondoyle wrote:
| this is AMAZING! It has really great detail for RMNP.
|
| I wish it had lighting. The weather.gov lat/lon graphs has it I
| wonder if that is a free source or something better.
|
| Snow depth too would be amazing
| matthewmcg wrote:
| This is very useful for vhf and uhf radio communications as well,
| which are normally* line of sight.
|
| In fact, the adsb-receiver[1] software package for setting up an
| aircraft tracking station includes a neat feature where you can
| use HeyWhatsThat to calculate maximum line of sight distances to
| aircraft at various altitudes and include these contours on your
| aircraft tracking map.
|
| * atmospheric phenomena such as density or humidity differences
| or reflections from other aircraft, the moon, or even meteors can
| enable reception over the horizon.
|
| [1] https://github.com/jprochazka/adsb-receiver/releases
| lesmond wrote:
| We actually added this as a feature to our sharing software at
| Plane Finder using our own modelling. If you sign up and then
| view your stats on the web you can compare your actual to the
| predicted. https://planefinder.net/coverage
| pridkett wrote:
| It's also baked into tar1090[1] which is a little more
| maintained of a package and pretty easy to get set up if you've
| got an SDR and 1090MHz antenna to track planes.
|
| It's a fun little hobby - where I live there really isn't much
| of a reason to do it as there are enough other 1090MHz
| receivers in the area, but it still is cool when I look and see
| obscure jets flying overhead.
|
| [1] https://github.com/wiedehopf/tar1090
| hunter2_ wrote:
| Not to mention even higher bands, like PtP WiFi [1].
|
| [1] https://www.nycmesh.net/
| stavros wrote:
| This is also going to be interesting for figuring out the
| minimum altitude for maintaining the link to an RC airplane for
| a given distance.
| thatcherc wrote:
| What a treat that the default location is Mt. Battie in Maine! I
| saw the tower up there from town just about every day growing up.
| Fun to see it pop up online!
| jlv2 wrote:
| Agreed. I climbed it 5 years ago, and immediately recognized
| the name.
| jjwiseman wrote:
| I can _never_ remember what the name of this site is when I need
| to use it. I should set up a redirecting domain.
|
| Using HeyWhatsThat to check whether a Russian GPS jammer in
| Khmeimim Air Base in Syria would be able to affect aircraft over
| Cyprus and in Tel Aviv:
| https://twitter.com/lemonodor/status/1502400086696869889
| bigDinosaur wrote:
| Why don't you create a bookmark with a name you can search on,
| like 'website used to do X that I always forget'?
| Thrymr wrote:
| > I can never remember what the name of this site is when I
| need to use it. I should set up a redirecting domain.
|
| Have we reached a world where this is easier than bookmarks?
|
| Personally, I just look through all of my open tabs until I
| find the site I was looking for...
| stevep98 wrote:
| I'd like to be able to determine the location of a landscape
| photo. Should be able to calculate the panorama for 5x5 mile
| regions of earth, and use some matching algorithms to find the
| closest profile to my picture.
|
| I thought about this when watching geowizard:
|
| https://youtu.be/0ZbmYh9QZgA
| hdersch wrote:
| I mentioned GeoImageViewer in a reply above. It contains
| several algorithms to determine the location of a landscape
| photo given some control points selected on a map. It is also
| able to determine lens parameters (fov, distortions,...).
| https://hdersch.github.io/
| jerrybender wrote:
| Also handy for finding cell phone ping ranges.
| bjterry wrote:
| There is a widely spread myth that Mt. Diablo in Oakland has the
| second largest viewshed in the world after Mt. Kilimanjaro[1].
| With this tool you can actually compare them directly, which is
| pretty cool:
|
| Mt. Diablo: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=K1JW43D4
|
| Mt. Kilimanjaro: https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=ME9CTRPG
|
| 1: Debunked here: https://www.kqed.org/news/11808501/does-mount-
| diablo-have-th...
| scythe wrote:
| Off the top of my head, I'd figure Mt. Shasta must have a much
| larger viewable area than anything in the Bay Area.
| oonerspism wrote:
| Not to be flippant, but it's fascinating to think how an
| average airline passenger may trivially (and very
| approximately!) match or even beat such a land-based record
| simply by looking out the window at 40,000ft. *about twice
| Kilimanjaro's elevation, for the record.
|
| Many semantics potentially apply, of course! But the principle
| is there. The principle that, for many decades now, humans have
| been matching the entire planet's largest natural viewshed, as
| a trivial matter of course during the everyday usage of
| technology, and barely even noticing most of the time...
| thedookmaster wrote:
| Mt. Diablo is in Contra Costa County, not Oakland.
| bjterry wrote:
| Thanks for the correction. It felt a lot closer, but I
| haven't been there in a long time.
| vosper wrote:
| And at the right time of year there are tarantulas
| everywhere. Awesome spot.
| meristem wrote:
| Loads of NOPE, thank you.
| Archelaos wrote:
| What about Mt. Taranaki?
|
| https://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=AVRM3QXH
|
| Mostly ocean, but it seems to cover a wider area.
| jeffbee wrote:
| The way of getting the land area of the viewshed from this
| presentation is not immediately obvious.
| bjterry wrote:
| My non-scientific method was to put the two windows side-by-
| side, and click the "zoom out" button three times to eyeball
| the difference.
| wackget wrote:
| I'm still waiting for an AR-style app which overlays the image
| from your phone camera with points of interest or GPS co-
| ordinates of distant places.
|
| Or hell, even just a map where you can turn your phone facing a
| general direction and see an approximate line of sight.
| ramses0 wrote:
| In the early days of iOS there were tons of those apps.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging#Wikipedia_article_g...
|
| """One of the first attempts to initiate the geotagging aspect
| of searching and locating articles seems to be the now-
| inoperative site Wikinear.com, launched in 2008, which showed
| the user Wikipedia pages that are geographically closest to
| one's current location.
|
| The 2009 app Cyclopedia works relatively well showing geotagged
| Wikipedia articles located within several miles of ones
| location, integrated with a street-view mode, and 360-degree
| mode."""
| stonogo wrote:
| Ah, well... To absent friends!
|
| https://www.wired.com/2012/05/hands-on-nokia-city-lens-beta-...
| tony_cannistra wrote:
| https://www.peakfinder.org/mobile/
| hdersch wrote:
| GeoImageViewer, not an overlay but side-by-side view of
| photograph and maps. Clicking the image anywhere (not just
| precalculated pois) shows corresponding location in map and
| vice-versa. https://hdersch.github.io/
| joecool1029 wrote:
| Wild, I was going to submit this to HN about a week ago and I
| hardly ever submit anything. Just slipped my mind. Weird how much
| the active users on this site think of similar stuff at the same
| time.
|
| This site also holds that distinction of being niche and useful
| enough for me to want to remember it but then I forget its name
| every so many years and have to ask around since it's hard to
| search it.
| dr_orpheus wrote:
| Now I can confidently say I CAN see my house from here!
| imilk wrote:
| Would be cool to use this same approach to calculate viewscores
| for properties, much like walkscore does.
| chrisshroba wrote:
| I use the app PeakFinder all the time and it's incredible for
| determining what mountain is what when you're on the go!
| dessant wrote:
| Thanks so much for sharing, their website has just helped me to
| better understand the horizon of my city.
|
| https://www.peakfinder.org
| bradknowles wrote:
| Thanks! I've been looking for an app like that....
| angst_ridden wrote:
| I was just going to say the same. The mobile version is
| fantastic for when you're out in the field.
|
| The AR feature is really nice.
| jlv2 wrote:
| I used to use PeakFinder, but then it was withdrawn and the
| free version disabled. Now it costs $5.
| sytelus wrote:
| Someone spent lot of time on developing it. This is one app
| that is absolutely worth $5.
| lultimouomo wrote:
| Among the best 5$ I've ever spent.
|
| This is a well polished app, which has non-trivial technical
| solutions (the AR view works very well and must not have been
| so simple to implement reliability on a miriad of different
| android devices).
|
| 5 dollars! C'mon.
| cracrecry wrote:
| I suppose the app creator must be saying "Good riddance!" for
| every "user" that complains the free version of their product
| does not exist anymore.
|
| Usually the less people pay, the more demands on the
| developers.
| idiotsecant wrote:
| This is a remarkably useful tool. Well done if you are the
| author!
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(page generated 2022-03-12 23:02 UTC)