Finding a quantity of anything between two points in space - plot
I'm currently working towards a 3D model of this, but I thought I would start with 2D. Basically, I have a grid of longitude and latitude with NO2 concentrations across it. What I want to produce, at least for now, is a total amount of Nitrogen Dioxide between two points. Like so:
2DGrid
Basically, These two points are at different lats and lons and as I stated I want to find the amount of something between them. The tricky thing to me is that the model data I'm working with is gridded so I need to be able to account for the amount of something along a line at the lat and lons at which that line cuts through said grid.
Another approach, and maybe a better one for my purposes, could be visualized like this:3DGrid
Ultimately, I'd like to be able to create a program (within any language honestly) that could find the amount of "something" between two points in a 3D grid. If you would like specfics, the bottom altitude is the surface, the top grid is the top of the atmosphere. The bottom point is a measurement device looking at the sun during a certain time of day (and therefore having a certain zenith and azimuth angle). I want to find the NO2 between that measurement device and the "top of the atmosphere" which in my grid is just the top altitude level (of which there are 25).
I'm rather new to coding, stack exchange, and even the subject matter I'm working with so the sparse code I've made might end up creating more clutter than purely asking the question and seeing what methods/code you might suggest?
Hopefully my question is beneficial!
Best,
Taylor
To traverse all touched cells, you can use Amanatides-Woo algorithm. It is suitable both for 2D and for 3D case.
Implementation clues
To account for quantity used from every cell, you can apply some model. For example, calculate path length inside cell (as difference of enter and exit coordinates) and divide by normalizing factor to get cell weight (for example, byCellSize*Sqrt(3) for 3D case as diagonal length).
Related
A large amount of points to create separate polygons (ArcGIS/QGIS)
Visual example of the data I used a drone to create a DOF of a small area. During the flight, it takes a photo every 20sh seconds (40sh meters of a flight). I have created a CSV file, which I transferred to a point shapefile. In total, I made with drone 10 so-called "missions", each with 100-200 points which are "shaped" as squares on the map. What I want now is to create a polygon shapefile from the point shapefile. Because those points sometimes overlap, I cannot use the "Aggregate Points" task, as it's only distance-based. I want to make polygons automatically, using some kind of script. What could help is the fact that a maximum time between two points (AKA photos taken) is 10-20 seconds, so if the time distance is over 3 minutes, it's another "mission". Can you help with such a script, that would quickly and automatically create as many polygons as there are missions?
Okay, I think I understand what you are trying to accomplish. Since no one replied I am going to give it a quick shot, so you have something to try. I think the best strategy would be to: Clustering algorithm: Try running a Clustering algorithm such as DBSCAN around the timestamp dimension to classify them based on time groups, instead of the distance (since, as you said, distance based separation is not enough to properly identify and separate the points). After which, you should have all the points classified between different groups with a column group id. Maximum distance parameter in the algorithm should be around 20 seconds steps, or even a minute (since you said each mission was separated at least about 3 minutes apart). Feature based Polygon to point: At that point, then you run your generic Polygon_from_points(...) function that transforms these clustered points to polygons shapes based on a specific discriminant feature (which in your case is going to be each group id). How does this work?: This would properly separate the groups first (time-based) and then you should be able to find a generic point to polygon based on a feature (Arcgis should have some). I dont have an example dataset, nor any code written, but based on what you described I think it would work, hope it helps.
segmenting lat/long data graph into lines/vectors
I have lat/lng data of multirotor UAV flights. There are alot of datapoints (~13k per flight) and I wish to find line segments from the data. They give me flight speed and direction. I know that most of the flights are guided missons meaning a point is given to fly to. However the exact points are unknown to me. Here is a graph of a single flight lat/lng shifted to near (0,0) so they are visible on the same time-series graph. I attempted to generate similar data, but there are several constraints and it may take more time to solve than working on the segmenting. The graphs start and end nearly always at the same point. Horisontal lines mean the UAV is stationary. These segments are expected. Beginning and and end are always stationary for takeoff and landing. There is some level of noise in the lines for the gps accuracy tho seemingly not that much. Alot of data points. The number of segments is unknown. The noise I could calculate given the segments and least squares method to the line. Currently I'm thinking of sampling the data (to decimate it a little) and constructing lines. Merging the lines with smaller angle than x (dependant on the noise) and finding the intersection points of the lines left. Another thought is to try and look at this problem in the frequency domain. The corners should be quite high frequency. Maybe I could make a custom filter kernel that would enable me to use a window function and win in efficency. EDIT: Rewrote the question for more clarity and less rambling.
Adding plotstick-like arrows to a scatterplot
This is my first post here, thought i have read a lot of your Q&A these last 6 months. I'm currently working on ADCP (Aquatic Doppler Current Profiler) data, handled by the "oce" package from Dan Kelley (a little bit of advertising for those who want to deal with oceanographic datas in R). I'm not very experienced in R, and i have read the question relative to abline for levelplot functions "How to add lines to a levelplot made using lattice (abline somehow not working)?".
What i currently have is a levelplot representing a time series of echo intensity (from backscattered signal, which is monitored in the same time as current is) data taken in 10m of depth, this 10m depth line is parted into 25 rows, where each measurement is done along the line. (see the code part to obtain an image of what i have)
(unfortunately, my reputation doesn't allow me to post images).
I then proceed to generate an other plot, which represents arrows of the current direction as:
The length of each arrow gives an indication of the current strength
Its orientation is represented (all of this is done by taking the two components of the current intensity (East-West / North-South) and represent the resulting current).
There is an arrow drawn for each tick of time (thus for the 1000 columns of my example data, there are always two components of the current intensity).
Those arrows are drawn at the beginning of each measurement cell, thus at each row of my data, allowing to have a representation of currents for the whole water column.
You can see the code part to have a "as i have" representation of currents
The purpose of this question is to understand how i can superimpose those two representations, drawing my current arrows at each row of the represented data, thus making a representation of both current direction, intensity and echo intensity.
Here i can't find any link to describe what i mean, but this is something i have already seen.
I tried with the panel function which seems to be the best option, but my knowledge of R and the handeling of this kind of work is small, and i hope one of you may have the time and the knowledges to help me to solve this problem way faster than i could.
I am, of course, available to answer any questions or give precisions. I may ask a lot more, after working on a large code for 6 months, my thirst for learning is now large.
Code to represent data :
Here are some data to represent what I have:
U (north/south component of velocity) and V (East/west):
U1= c(0.043,0.042,0.043,0.026,0.066,-0.017,-0.014,-0.019,0.024,-0.007,0.000,-0.048,-0.057,-0.101,-0.063,-0.114,-0.132,-0.103,-0.080,-0.098,-0.123,-0.087,-0.071,-0.050,-0.095,-0.047,-0.031,-0.028,-0.015,0.014,-0.019,0.048,0.026,0.039,0.084,0.036,0.071,0.055,0.019,0.059,0.038,0.040,0.013,0.044,0.078,0.040,0.098,0.015,-0.009,0.013,0.038,0.013,0.039,-0.008,0.024,-0.004,0.046,-0.004,-0.079,-0.032,-0.023,-0.015,-0.001,-0.028,-0.030,-0.054,-0.071,-0.046,-0.029,0.012,0.016,0.049,-0.020,0.012,0.016,-0.021,0.017,0.013,-0.008,0.057,0.028,0.056,0.114,0.073,0.078,0.133,0.056,0.057,0.096,0.061,0.096,0.081,0.100,0.092,0.057,0.028,0.055,0.025,0.082,0.087,0.070,-0.010,0.024,-0.025,0.018,0.016,0.007,0.020,-0.031,-0.045,-0.009,-0.060,-0.074,-0.072,-0.082,-0.100,-0.047,-0.089,-0.074,-0.070,-0.070,-0.070,-0.075,-0.070,-0.055,-0.078,-0.039,-0.050,-0.049,0.024,-0.026,-0.021,0.008,-0.026,-0.018,0.002,-0.009,-0.025,0.029,-0.040,-0.006,0.055,0.018,-0.035,-0.011,-0.026,-0.014,-0.006,-0.021,-0.031,-0.030,-0.056,-0.034,-0.026,-0.041,-0.107,-0.069,-0.082,-0.091,-0.096,-0.043,-0.038,-0.056,-0.068,-0.064,-0.042,-0.064,-0.058,0.016,-0.041,0.018,-0.008,0.058,0.006,0.007,0.060,0.011,0.050,-0.028,0.023,0.015,0.083,0.106,0.057,0.096,0.055,0.119,0.145,0.078,0.090,0.110,0.087,0.098,0.092,0.050,0.068,0.042,0.059,0.030,-0.005,-0.005,-0.013,-0.013,-0.016,0.008,-0.045,-0.021,-0.036,0.020,-0.018,-0.032,-0.038,0.021,-0.077,0.003,-0.010,-0.001,-0.024,-0.020,-0.022,-0.029,-0.053,-0.022,-0.007,-0.073,0.013,0.018,0.002,-0.038,0.024,0.025,0.033,0.008,0.016,-0.018,0.023,-0.001,-0.010,0.006,0.053,0.004,0.001,-0.003,0.009,0.019,0.024,0.031,0.024,0.009,-0.009,-0.035,-0.030,-0.031,-0.094,-0.006,-0.052,-0.061,-0.104,-0.098,-0.054,-0.161,-0.110,-0.078,-0.178,-0.052,-0.073,-0.051,-0.065,-0.029,-0.012,-0.053,-0.070,-0.040,-0.056,-0.004,-0.032,-0.065,-0.005,0.036,0.023,0.043,0.078,0.039,0.019,0.061,0.025,0.036,0.036,0.062,0.048,0.073,0.037,0.025,0.000,-0.007,-0.014,-0.050,-0.014,0.007,-0.035,-0.115,-0.039,-0.113,-0.102,-0.109,-0.158,-0.158,-0.133,-0.110,-0.170,-0.124,-0.115,-0.134,-0.097,-0.106,-0.155,-0.168,-0.038,-0.040,-0.074,-0.011,-0.040,-0.003,-0.019,-0.022,-0.006,-0.049,-0.048,-0.039,-0.011,-0.036,-0.001,-0.018,-0.037,-0.001,0.033,0.061,0.054,0.005,0.040,0.045,0.062,0.016,-0.007,-0.005,0.009,0.044,0.029,-0.016,-0.028,-0.021,-0.036,-0.072,-0.138,-0.060,-0.109,-0.064,-0.142,-0.081,-0.032,-0.077,-0.058,-0.035,-0.039,-0.013,0.007,0.007,-0.052,0.024,0.018,0.067,0.015,-0.002,-0.004,0.038,-0.010,0.056)
V1=c(-0.083,-0.089,-0.042,-0.071,-0.043,-0.026,0.025,0.059,-0.019,0.107,0.049,0.089,0.094,0.090,0.120,0.169,0.173,0.159,0.141,0.157,0.115,0.128,0.154,0.083,0.038,0.081,0.129,0.120,0.112,0.074,0.022,-0.022,-0.028,-0.048,-0.027,-0.056,-0.027,-0.107,-0.020,-0.063,-0.069,-0.019,-0.055,-0.071,-0.027,-0.034,-0.018,-0.089,-0.068,-0.129,-0.034,-0.002,0.011,-0.009,-0.038,-0.013,-0.006,0.027,0.037,0.022,0.087,0.080,0.119,0.085,0.076,0.072,0.029,0.103,0.019,0.020,0.052,0.024,-0.051,-0.024,-0.008,0.011,-0.019,0.023,-0.011,-0.033,-0.101,-0.157,-0.094,-0.099,-0.106,-0.103,-0.139,-0.093,-0.098,-0.083,-0.118,-0.142,-0.155,-0.095,-0.122,-0.072,-0.034,-0.047,-0.036,0.014,0.035,-0.034,-0.012,0.054,0.030,0.060,0.091,0.013,0.049,0.083,0.070,0.127,0.048,0.118,0.123,0.099,0.097,0.074,0.125,0.051,0.107,0.069,0.040,0.102,0.100,0.119,0.087,0.077,0.044,0.091,0.020,0.010,-0.028,0.026,-0.018,-0.020,0.010,0.034,0.005,0.010,0.028,-0.043,0.025,-0.069,-0.003,0.004,-0.001,0.024,0.032,0.076,0.033,0.071,0.000,0.052,0.034,0.058,0.002,0.070,0.025,0.056,0.051,0.080,0.051,0.101,0.009,0.052,0.079,0.035,0.051,0.049,0.064,0.004,0.011,0.005,0.031,-0.021,-0.024,-0.048,-0.011,-0.072,-0.034,-0.020,-0.052,-0.069,-0.088,-0.093,-0.084,-0.143,-0.103,-0.110,-0.124,-0.175,-0.083,-0.117,-0.090,-0.090,-0.040,-0.068,-0.082,-0.082,-0.061,-0.013,-0.029,-0.032,-0.046,-0.031,-0.048,-0.028,-0.034,-0.012,0.006,-0.062,-0.043,0.010,0.036,0.050,0.030,0.084,0.027,0.074,0.082,0.087,0.079,0.031,0.003,0.001,0.038,0.002,-0.038,0.003,0.023,-0.011,0.013,0.003,-0.046,-0.021,-0.050,-0.063,-0.068,-0.085,-0.051,-0.052,-0.065,0.014,-0.016,-0.082,-0.026,-0.032,0.019,-0.026,0.036,-0.005,0.092,0.070,0.045,0.074,0.091,0.122,-0.007,0.094,0.064,0.087,0.063,0.083,0.109,0.062,0.096,0.036,-0.019,0.075,0.052,0.025,0.031,0.078,0.044,-0.018,-0.040,-0.039,-0.140,-0.037,-0.095,-0.056,-0.044,-0.039,-0.086,-0.062,-0.085,-0.023,-0.103,-0.035,-0.067,-0.096,-0.097,-0.060,0.003,-0.051,0.014,-0.002,0.054,0.045,0.073,0.080,0.096,0.104,0.126,0.144,0.136,0.132,0.160,0.155,0.136,0.080,0.144,0.087,0.093,0.103,0.151,0.165,0.146,0.159,0.156,0.002,0.023,-0.019,0.078,0.031,0.038,0.019,0.094,0.018,0.028,0.064,-0.052,-0.034,0.000,-0.074,-0.076,-0.028,-0.048,-0.025,-0.095,-0.098,-0.045,-0.016,-0.030,-0.036,-0.012,0.023,0.038,0.042,0.039,0.073,0.066,0.027,0.016,0.093,0.129,0.138,0.121,0.077,0.046,0.067,0.068,0.023,0.062,0.038,-0.007,0.055,0.006,-0.015,0.008,0.064,0.012,0.004,-0.055,0.018,0.042)
U2=c(0.022,0.005,-0.022,0.025,-0.014,-0.020,-0.001,-0.021,-0.008,-0.006,-0.056,0.050,-0.068,0.018,-0.106,-0.053,-0.084,-0.082,-0.061,-0.041,-0.057,-0.123,-0.060,-0.029,-0.084,-0.004,0.030,-0.021,-0.036,-0.016,0.006,0.088,0.088,0.079,0.063,0.097,0.020,-0.048,0.046,0.057,0.065,0.042,0.022,0.016,0.041,0.109,0.024,-0.010,-0.084,-0.002,0.004,-0.033,-0.025,-0.020,-0.061,-0.060,-0.043,-0.027,-0.054,-0.054,-0.040,-0.077,-0.043,-0.014,0.030,-0.051,0.001,-0.029,0.008,-0.023,0.015,0.002,-0.001,0.029,0.048,0.081,-0.022,0.040,0.018,0.131,0.059,0.055,0.043,0.027,0.091,0.104,0.101,0.084,0.048,0.057,0.044,0.083,0.063,0.083,0.079,0.042,-0.021,0.017,0.005,0.001,-0.033,0.010,-0.028,-0.035,-0.012,-0.034,-0.055,-0.009,0.001,-0.084,-0.047,-0.020,-0.046,-0.042,-0.058,-0.071,0.013,-0.045,-0.070,0.000,-0.067,-0.090,0.012,-0.013,-0.013,-0.009,-0.063,-0.047,-0.030,0.046,0.026,0.019,0.007,-0.056,-0.062,0.009,-0.019,-0.005,0.003,0.022,-0.006,-0.019,0.020,0.025,0.040,-0.032,0.015,0.019,-0.014,-0.031,-0.047,0.010,-0.058,-0.079,-0.052,-0.044,0.012,-0.039,-0.007,-0.068,-0.095,-0.053,-0.066,-0.056,-0.033,-0.006,0.001,0.010,0.004,0.011,0.013,0.029,-0.011,0.007,0.023,0.087,0.054,0.040,0.013,-0.006,0.076,0.086,0.103,0.121,0.070,0.074,0.067,0.045,0.088,0.041,0.075,0.039,0.043,0.016,0.065,0.056,0.047,-0.002,-0.001,-0.009,-0.029,0.018,0.041,0.002,-0.022,0.003,0.008,0.031,0.003,-0.031,-0.015,0.014,-0.057,-0.043,-0.045,-0.067,-0.040,-0.013,-0.111,-0.067,-0.055,-0.004,-0.070,-0.019,0.009,0.009,0.032,-0.021,0.023,0.123,-0.032,0.040,0.012,0.042,0.038,0.037,-0.007,0.003,0.011,0.090,0.039,0.083,0.023,0.056,0.030,0.042,0.030,-0.046,-0.034,-0.021,-0.076,-0.017,-0.071,-0.053,-0.014,-0.060,-0.038,-0.076,-0.011,-0.005,-0.051,-0.043,-0.032,-0.014,-0.038,-0.081,-0.021,-0.035,0.014,-0.001,0.001,0.003,-0.029,-0.031,0.000,0.048,-0.036,0.034,0.054,0.001,0.046,0.006,0.039,0.015,0.012,0.034,0.022,0.015,0.033,0.037,0.012,0.057,0.001,-0.014,0.012,-0.007,-0.022,-0.002,-0.008,0.043,-0.041,-0.057,-0.006,-0.079,-0.070,-0.038,-0.040,-0.073,-0.045,-0.101,-0.092,-0.046,-0.047,-0.023,-0.028,-0.019,-0.086,-0.047,-0.038,-0.068,-0.017,0.037,-0.010,-0.016,0.010,-0.005,-0.031,0.004,-0.034,0.005,0.006,-0.015,0.017,-0.043,-0.007,-0.009,0.013,0.026,-0.036,0.011,0.047,-0.025,-0.023,0.043,-0.020,-0.003,-0.043,0.000,-0.018,-0.075,-0.045,-0.063,-0.043,-0.055,0.007,-0.063,-0.085,-0.031,0.005,-0.067,-0.059,-0.059,-0.029,-0.014,-0.040,-0.072,-0.018,0.039,-0.006,-0.001,-0.015,0.038,0.038,-0.009,0.026,0.017,0.056)
V2=c(-0.014,0.001,0.004,-0.002,0.022,0.019,0.023,-0.023,0.030,-0.085,-0.007,-0.027,0.100,0.058,0.108,0.055,0.132,0.115,0.084,0.046,0.102,0.121,0.036,0.019,0.066,0.049,-0.011,0.020,0.023,0.011,0.041,0.009,-0.009,-0.023,-0.036,0.031,0.012,0.026,-0.011,0.009,-0.027,-0.033,-0.054,-0.004,-0.040,-0.048,-0.009,0.023,-0.028,0.022,0.090,0.060,0.040,0.003,-0.011,0.030,0.107,0.025,0.084,0.036,0.074,0.065,0.078,0.011,0.058,0.092,0.083,0.080,0.039,0.000,-0.027,0.035,0.011,0.004,0.023,-0.033,-0.060,-0.049,-0.101,-0.033,-0.105,-0.042,-0.088,-0.086,-0.093,-0.085,-0.028,-0.046,-0.045,-0.052,-0.009,-0.066,-0.073,-0.067,0.011,-0.057,-0.087,-0.066,-0.103,-0.075,0.003,-0.021,0.010,-0.013,0.021,0.020,0.084,0.028,0.127,0.050,0.104,0.097,0.075,0.021,0.057,0.095,0.080,0.077,0.086,0.110,0.054,0.016,0.105,0.065,0.046,0.047,0.072,0.058,0.092,0.063,0.033,0.087,0.036,0.049,0.093,0.008,0.064,0.068,0.040,0.049,0.035,0.042,0.045,0.021,0.056,0.007,0.026,0.067,0.046,0.088,0.084,0.070,0.037,0.079,0.065,0.074,0.077,0.023,0.094,0.061,0.096,0.068,0.067,0.091,0.061,0.069,0.090,0.046,0.057,0.011,-0.018,0.005,0.001,-0.023,-0.087,0.010,0.023,-0.025,-0.040,-0.059,-0.063,-0.075,-0.136,-0.078,-0.102,-0.128,-0.116,-0.091,-0.136,-0.083,-0.115,-0.063,-0.055,-0.080,-0.093,-0.099,-0.053,-0.042,-0.011,-0.034,-0.027,-0.042,-0.022,-0.008,-0.033,-0.039,-0.036,0.019,0.036,-0.002,0.000,-0.021,0.060,0.030,0.073,0.080,0.061,0.046,0.062,0.010,0.034,0.103,0.107,0.016,0.080,0.067,0.007,0.060,0.021,-0.026,0.008,0.051,0.030,0.001,-0.036,-0.047,0.000,0.006,0.006,0.013,0.009,0.019,0.009,-0.086,-0.020,0.018,0.039,0.014,0.011,0.052,0.031,0.095,0.047,0.065,0.114,0.086,0.102,0.037,0.039,0.060,0.024,0.091,0.058,0.065,0.060,0.045,0.031,0.062,0.047,0.043,0.057,0.032,0.057,0.051,0.019,0.056,0.024,-0.003,0.023,-0.013,-0.032,-0.022,-0.064,-0.021,-0.050,-0.063,-0.090,-0.082,-0.076,-0.077,-0.042,-0.060,-0.010,-0.060,-0.069,-0.028,-0.071,-0.046,-0.020,-0.074,0.080,0.071,0.065,0.079,0.065,0.039,0.061,0.154,0.072,0.067,0.133,0.106,0.080,0.047,0.053,0.110,0.080,0.122,0.075,0.052,0.034,0.081,0.118,0.079,0.101,0.053,0.082,0.036,0.033,0.026,0.002,-0.002,0.020,0.087,0.021,0.034,0.003,-0.021,0.016,-0.009,-0.045,-0.043,-0.020,0.027,0.008,-0.006,0.043,0.045,0.014,0.053,0.083,0.113,0.091,0.028,0.060,0.040,0.019,0.114,0.126,0.090,0.046,0.089,0.029,0.030,0.010,0.045,0.040,0.072,-0.033,-0.008,0.014,-0.018,-0.004,-0.037,0.015,-0.021,-0.015)
bindistances=c(1.37,1.62,1.87,2.12,2.37,2.62,2.87,3.12,3.37,3.62,3.87,4.12,4.37,4.62,4.87,5.12,5.37,5.62,5.87,6.12,6.37,6.62,6.87,7.12,7.37,7.62,7.87,8.12)
Then, as a representation of currents:
AA=14
x11()
par(mfrow=c(4,1))
plotSticks(x=seq(from=(1),
to=(377),
by=(1)),
u=U1,
v=V1,
yscale=ysc,xlab='',ylab='',xaxt='n',yaxt='n',col=(rep('black',384)))
axis(side=1)
plotSticks(x=seq(from=(1),
to=(377),
by=(1)),
u=U2,
v=V2,
yscale=ysc,xlab='',ylab='',xaxt='n',yaxt='n',col=(rep('black',384)))
plotSticks(x=seq(from=(1),
to=(377),
by=(1)),
u=U2,
v=V2,
yscale=ysc,xlab='',ylab='',xaxt='n',yaxt='n',col=(rep('black',384)))
plotSticks(x=seq(from=(1),
to=(377),
by=(1)),
u=U2,
v=V2,
yscale=ysc,xlab='',ylab='',xaxt='n',yaxt='n',col=(rep('black',384)))
In order to simplify the representation, the three last plots are based on the same data.
Accurately measuring relative distance between a set of fiducials (Augmented reality application)
Let's say I have a set of 5 markers. I am trying to find the relative distances between each marker using an augmented reality framework such as ARToolkit. In my camera feed thee first 20 frames show me the first 2 markers only so I can work out the transformation between the 2 markers. The second 20 frames show me the 2nd and 3rd markers only and so on. The last 20 frames show me the 5th and 1st markers. I want to build up a 3D map of the marker positions of all 5 markers. My question is, knowing that there will be inaccuracies with the distances due to low quality of the video feed, how do I minimise the inaccuracies given all the information I have gathered? My naive approach would be to use the first marker as a base point, from the first 20 frames take the mean of the transformations and place the 2nd marker and so forth for the 3rd and 4th. For the 5th marker place it inbetween the 4th and 1st by placing it in the middle of the mean of the transformations between the 5th and 1st and the 4th and 5th. This approach I feel has a bias towards the first marker placement though and doesn't take into account the camera seeing more than 2 markers per frame. Ultimately I want my system to be able to work out the map of x number of markers. In any given frame up to x markers can appear and there are non-systemic errors due to the image quality. Any help regarding the correct approach to this problem would be greatly appreciated. Edit: More information regarding the problem: Lets say the realworld map is as follows: Lets say I get 100 readings for each of the transformations between the points as represented by the arrows in the image. The real values are written above the arrows. The values I obtain have some error (assumed to follow a gaussian distribution about the actual value). For instance one of the readings obtained for marker 1 to 2 could be x:9.8 y:0.09. Given I have all these readings how do I estimate the map. The result should ideally be as close to the real values as possible. My naive approach has the following problem. If the average of the transforms from 1 to 2 is slightly off the placement of 3 can be off even though the reading of 2 to 3 is very accurate. This problem is shown below: The greens are the actual values, the blacks are the calculated values. The average transform of 1 to 2 is x:10 y:2.
You can use a least-squares method, to find the transformation that gives the best fit to all your data. If all you want is the distance between the markers, this is just the average of the distances measured. Assuming that your marker positions are fixed (e.g., to a fixed rigid body), and you want their relative position, then you can simply record their positions and average them. If there is a potential for confusing one marker with another, you can track them from frame to frame, and use the continuity of each marker location between its two periods to confirm its identity. If you expect your rigid body to be moving (or if the body is not rigid, and so forth), then your problem is significantly harder. Two markers at a time is not sufficient to fix the position of a rigid body (which requires three). However, note that, at each transition, you have the location of the old marker, the new marker, and the continuous marker, at almost the same time. If you already have an expected location on the body for each of your markers, this should provide a good estimate of a rigid pose every 20 frames. In general, if your body is moving, best performance will require some kind of model for its dynamics, which should be used to track its pose over time. Given a dynamic model, you can use a Kalman filter to do the tracking; Kalman filters are well-adapted to integrating the kind of data you describe. By including the locations of your markers as part of the Kalman state vector, you may be able to be able to deduce their relative locations from purely sensor data (which appears to be your goal), rather than requiring this information a priori. If you want to be able to handle an arbitrary number of markers efficiently, you may need to come up with some clever mutation of the usual methods; your problem seems designed to avoid solution by conventional decomposition methods such as sequential Kalman filtering. Edit, as per the comments below: If your markers yield a full 3D pose (instead of just a 3D position), the additional data will make it easier to maintain accurate information about the object you are tracking. However, the recommendations above still apply: If the labeled body is fixed, use a least-squares fit of all relevant frame data. If the labeled body is moving, model its dynamics and use a Kalman filter. New points that come to mind: Trying to manage a chain of relative transformations may not be the best way to approach the problem; as you note, it is prone to accumulated error. However, it is not necessarily a bad way, either, as long as you can implement the necessary math in that framework. In particular, a least-squares fit should work perfectly well with a chain or ring of relative poses. In any case, for either a least-squares fit or for Kalman filter tracking, a good estimate of the uncertainty of your measurements will improve performance.
How to determine all line segments from a list of points generated from a mouse gesture?
Currently I am interning at a software company and one of my tasks has been to implement the recognition of mouse gestures. One of the senior developers helped me get started and provided code/projects that uses the $1 Unistroke Recognizer http://depts.washington.edu/aimgroup/proj/dollar/. I get, in a broad way, what the $1 Unistroke Recognizer is doing and how it works but am a bit overwhelmed with trying to understand all of the internals/finer details of it. My problem is that I am trying to recognize the gesture of moving the mouse downards, then upwards. The $1 Unistroke Recognizer determines that the gesture I created was a downwards gesture, which is infact what it ought to do. What I really would like it to do is say "I recognize a downards gesture AND THEN an upwards gesture." I do not know if the lack of understanding of the $1 Unistroke Recognizer completely is causing me to scratch my head, but does anyone have any ideas as to how to recognize two different gestures from moving the mouse downwards then upwards? Here is my idea that I thought might help me but would love for someone who is an expert or even knows just a bit more than me to let me know what you think. Any help or resources that you know of would be greatly appreciated. How My Application Currently Works: The way that my current application works is that I capture points from where the mouse cursor is while the user holds down the left mouse button. A list of points then gets feed to a the gesture recognizer and it then spits out what it thinks to be the best shape/gesture that cooresponds to the captured points. My Idea: What I wanted to do is before I feed the points to the gesture recognizer is to somehow go through all the points and break them down into separate lines or curves. This way I could feed each line/curve in one at a time and from the basic movements of down, up, left, right, diagonals, and curves I could determine the final shape/gesture. One way I thought would be good in determining if there are separate lines in my list of points is sampling groups of points and looking at their slope. If the slope of a sampled group of points differed X% from some other group of sampled points then it would be safe to assume that there is indeed a separate line present. What I Think Are Possible Problems In My Thinking: Where do I determine the end of a line and the start of a separate line? If I was to use the idea of checking the slope of a group of points and then determined that there was a separate line present that doesn't mean I nessecarily found the slope of a separate line. For example if you were to draw a straight edged "L" with a right angle and sample the slope of the points around the corner of the "L" you would see that the slope would give resonable indication that there is a separate line present but those points don't correspond to the start of a separate line. How to deal with the ever changing slope of a curved line? The gesture recognizer that I use handles curves already in the way I want it too. But I don't want my method that I use to determine separate lines keep on looking for these so called separate lines in a curve because its slope is changing all the time when I sample groups of points. Would I just stop sampling points once the slope changed more than X% so many times in a row? I'm not using the correct "type" of math for determining separate lines. Math isn't my strongest subject but I did do some research. I tried to look into Dot Products and see if that would point me in some direction, but I don't know if it will. Has anyone used Dot Prodcuts for doing something like this or some other method? Final Thoughts, Remarks, And Thanks: Part of my problem I feel like is that I don't know how to compeletly ask my question. I wouldn't be surprised if this problem has already been asked (in one way or another) and a solution exist that can be Googled. But my search results on Google didn't provide any solutions as I just don't know exactly how to ask my question yet. If you feel like it is confusing please let me know where and why and I will help clarify it. In doing so maybe my searches on Google will become more precise and I will be able to find a solution. I just want to say thanks again for reading my post. I know its long but didn't really know where else to ask it. Imma talk with some other people around the office but all of my best solutions I have used throughout school have come from the StackOverflow community so I owe much thanks to you. Edits To This Post: (7/6 4:00 PM) Another idea I thought about was comparing all the points before a Min/Max point. For example, if I moved the mouse downards then upwards, my starting point would be the current Max point while the point where I start moving the mouse back upwards would be my min point. I could then go ahead and look to see if there are any points after the min point and if so say that there could be a new potential line. I dunno how well this will work on other shapes like stars but thats another thing Im going to look into. Has anyone done something similar to this before?
If your problem can be narrowed down to breaking apart a general curve into straight or smoothly curved partial lines then you could try this. Comparing the slope of the segments and identifying breaking points where it is greater then some threshold would work in a very simplified case. Imagine a perfectly formed L-shape where you have a right angle between two straight lines. Obviously the corner point would be the only one where the slope difference is above the threshold as long as the threshold is between 0 and 90 degrees, and thus a identifiable breaking point. However, the vertical and horizontal lines may be slightly curved so the threshold would need to be large enough for these small differences in slope to be ignored as breaking points. You'd also have to decide how sharp a corner the algorithm should pick up as a break. is 90 deg or higher required, or is even 30 deg enough? This is an important question. Finally, to make this robust I would not be satisfied comparing the slopes of two adjacent segments. Hands may shake, corners may be smoothed out and the ideal conditions to find straight lines and sharp corners will probably never occur. For each point investigated for a break I would take the average slope of the N previous segments and compare it to the average slope of the N following segments. This can be efficiently implemented using a running mean. By choosing a good sample number N (depending on the accuracy of the input, the total number of points, etc) the algorithm can avoid the noise and make better detections. Basically the algorithm would be: For each investigated point (beginning N points into the sequence and ending N points before the end.) Compute average slope of the N previous segments. Compute average slope of the N next segments. If the difference of the averages is greater than the Threshold, mark current point as a breaking point. This is quite off the top of my head. You'd have to try it in your application.
if you work with absolute angles, like upwards and downwards, you can simply take the absolute slope between two points (not necessarily adjacent) to determine if it's RIGHT, LEFT, UP, DOWN (if that is enough of a distinction) the art is to find a distance between points so that the angle is not random (with 1px, the angle will be a multiple of 45°) There is a firefox plugin for Navigation using mouse gestures that works very well. I think it's FireGestures, but I'm not sure. I guess you can get some inspiration from that one Additional thought: If you draw a shape by connectiong successive points, then connecting back to the first point, the ratio between the area and the final line segment's length is also an indicator for the gesture's "edginess"
If you are just interested in up/down/left/right, a first approximation is to check 45 degree segments of a circle. This is easily done by checking the the horizontal difference between (successive) points against the vertical difference between points. Say you have a greater positive horizontal difference than vertical difference, then that would be 'RIGHT'. The only difficulty then comes for example, in distinguishing UP/DOWN from UP/RIGHT/DOWN. But this could be done by distances between points. If you determine that the mouse has moved RIGHT for less than 20 pixels say, then you can ignore that movement.