Aspen Movie Map
Encyclopedia
The Aspen Movie Map was a revolutionary hypermedia
system developed at MIT
by a team working with Andrew Lippman in 1978 with funding from ARPA
.
(that is, a form of surrogate travel). It is an early example of a hypermedia
system.
A gyroscopic stabilizer with four 16mm
stop-frame film cameras was mounted on top of a car with an encoder that triggered the cameras every ten feet. The distance was measured from an optical sensor attached to the hub of a bicycle wheel dragged behind the vehicle. The cameras were mounted in order to capture front, back, and side views as the car made its way through the city. Filming took place daily between 10am and 2pm to minimize lighting discrepancies. The car was carefully driven down the center of every street in Aspen to enable registered match cut
s.
The film was assembled into a collection of discontinuous scenes (one segment per view per city block) and then transferred to laserdisc
, the analog-video precursor to modern digital optical disc storage technologies such as DVD
s. A database was made that correlated the layout of the video on the disc with the two-dimensional street plan. Thus linked, the user was able to choose an arbitrary path through the city; the only restrictions being the necessity to stay in the center of the street; move ten feet between steps; and view the street from one of the four orthogonal
views.
The interaction was controlled through a dynamically-generated menu overlaid on top of the video image: speed and viewing angle were modified by the selection of the appropriate icon through a touch-screen interface, harbinger of the ubiquitous interactive-video kiosk. Commands were sent from the client process handling the user input and overlay graphics to a server that accessed the database and controlled the laserdisc players. Another interface feature was the ability to touch any building in the current field of view, and, in a manner similar to the ISMAP
feature of web browsers, jump to a façade of that building. Selected building contained additional data: e.g., interior shots, historical images, menus of restaurants, video interviews of city officials, etc., allowing the user to take a virtual tour through those buildings.
In a later implementation, the metadata
, which was in large part automatically extracted from the animation database, was encoded as a digital signal in the analog video. The data encoded in each frame contained all the necessary information to enable a full-featured surrogate-travel experience.
Another feature of the system was a navigation map that was overlaid above the horizon in the top of the frame; the map both served to indicate the user’s current position in the city (as well as a trace of streets previously explored) and to allow the user to jump to a two-dimensional city map, which allowed for an alternative way of moving through the city. Additional features of the map interface included the ability to jump back and forth between correlated aerial photographic and cartoon renderings with routes and landmarks highlighted; and to zoom in and out à la Charles Eames’s Powers of Ten
film.
Aspen was filmed in early fall and winter. The user was able to in situ
change seasons on demand while moving down the street or looking at a façade. A three-dimensional polygonal model of the city was also generated, using the Quick and Dirty Animation System (QADAS
), which featured three-dimensional texture-mapping
of the facades of landmark buildings, using an algorithm designed by Paul Heckbert. These computer-graphic images, also stored on the laserdisc, were also correlated to the video, enabling the user to view an abstract rendering of the city in real time.
, filmed the hallways of MIT with a camera mounted on a cart. The film was transferred to a laserdisc as part of a collection of projects being done at the Architecture Machine Group (ArcMac).
The Aspen Movie Map was filmed in the fall of 1978, in winter 1979 and briefly again (with an active gyro stabilizer) in the fall of 1979. The first version was operational in early spring of 1979.
Many people were involved in the production, most notably: Nicholas Negroponte
, founder and director of the Architecture Machine Group, who found support for the project from the Cybernetics Technology Office of DARPA; Andrew Lippman, principal investigator; Bob Mohl, who designed the map overlay system and ran user studies of the efficacy of the system for his PhD thesis; Richard Leacock
(Ricky), who headed the MIT Film/Video section and shot along with MS student Marek Zalewski the Cinéma vérité
interviews placed behind the facades of key buildings; John Borden, of Peace River Films in Cambridge, MA, who designed the stabilization rig; Kristina Hooper of UCSC; Rebecca Allen
; Scott Fisher
, who matched the photos of Aspen in the silver-mining days from the historical society to the same scenes in Aspen in 1978 and who experiment with anamorphic imaging of the city (using a Volpe lens); Walter Bender
, who designed and built the interface, the client/server model, and the animation system; Steve Gregory
; Stan Sasaki, who built much of the electronics; Steve Yelick, who worked on the laserdisc interface and anamorphic rendering; Eric "Smokehouse" Brown, who built the metadata encoder/decoder; Paul Heckbert worked on the animation system; Mark Shirley and Paul Trevithick
, who also worked on the animation; Ken Carson
; Howard Eglowstein; and Michael Naimark
, who was at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies and was responsible for the cinematography design and production.
(which had severely limited funding for hypertext
researchers like Douglas Engelbart
).
The Aspen Movie Map's military application was to solve the problem of quickly familiarizing soldiers with new territory. The Department of Defense had been deeply impressed by the success of Operation Entebbe
in 1976, where the Israeli commandos had quickly built a crude replica of the airport and practiced in it before attacking the real thing. DOD hoped that the Movie Map would show the way to a future where computers could instantly create a three-dimensional simulation of a hostile environment at much lower cost and in less time (see virtual reality
).
While the Movie Map has been referred to as an early example of interactive video
, it is perhaps more accurate to describe it as a pioneering example of interactive computing
. Video, audio, still images and metadata were retrieved from a database and assembled on the fly by the computer (an Interdata minicomputer running the MagicSix
operating system) redirecting its actions based upon user input; video was the principal, but not sole affordance of the interaction.
awarded the project one of his Golden Fleece Award
s. Proxmire was later severely criticized by journalist Stewart Brand
.
Hypermedia
Hypermedia is a computer-based information retrieval system that enables a user to gain or provide access to texts, audio and video recordings, photographs and computer graphics related to a particular subject.Hypermedia is a term created by Ted Nelson....
system developed at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
by a team working with Andrew Lippman in 1978 with funding from ARPA
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military...
.
Features
The Aspen Movie Map enabled the user to take a virtual tour through the city of Aspen, ColoradoAspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
(that is, a form of surrogate travel). It is an early example of a hypermedia
Hypermedia
Hypermedia is a computer-based information retrieval system that enables a user to gain or provide access to texts, audio and video recordings, photographs and computer graphics related to a particular subject.Hypermedia is a term created by Ted Nelson....
system.
A gyroscopic stabilizer with four 16mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
stop-frame film cameras was mounted on top of a car with an encoder that triggered the cameras every ten feet. The distance was measured from an optical sensor attached to the hub of a bicycle wheel dragged behind the vehicle. The cameras were mounted in order to capture front, back, and side views as the car made its way through the city. Filming took place daily between 10am and 2pm to minimize lighting discrepancies. The car was carefully driven down the center of every street in Aspen to enable registered match cut
Match cut
A match cut, also called a graphic match, is a cut in film editing between either two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which an object in the two shots graphically match, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots...
s.
The film was assembled into a collection of discontinuous scenes (one segment per view per city block) and then transferred to laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
, the analog-video precursor to modern digital optical disc storage technologies such as DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s. A database was made that correlated the layout of the video on the disc with the two-dimensional street plan. Thus linked, the user was able to choose an arbitrary path through the city; the only restrictions being the necessity to stay in the center of the street; move ten feet between steps; and view the street from one of the four orthogonal
Orthogonality
Orthogonality occurs when two things can vary independently, they are uncorrelated, or they are perpendicular.-Mathematics:In mathematics, two vectors are orthogonal if they are perpendicular, i.e., they form a right angle...
views.
The interaction was controlled through a dynamically-generated menu overlaid on top of the video image: speed and viewing angle were modified by the selection of the appropriate icon through a touch-screen interface, harbinger of the ubiquitous interactive-video kiosk. Commands were sent from the client process handling the user input and overlay graphics to a server that accessed the database and controlled the laserdisc players. Another interface feature was the ability to touch any building in the current field of view, and, in a manner similar to the ISMAP
Image map
In HTML and XHTML , an image map is a list of coordinates relating to a specific image, created in order to hyperlink areas of the image to various destinations . For example, a map of the world may have each country hyperlinked to further information about that country...
feature of web browsers, jump to a façade of that building. Selected building contained additional data: e.g., interior shots, historical images, menus of restaurants, video interviews of city officials, etc., allowing the user to take a virtual tour through those buildings.
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
, which was in large part automatically extracted from the animation database, was encoded as a digital signal in the analog video. The data encoded in each frame contained all the necessary information to enable a full-featured surrogate-travel experience.
Another feature of the system was a navigation map that was overlaid above the horizon in the top of the frame; the map both served to indicate the user’s current position in the city (as well as a trace of streets previously explored) and to allow the user to jump to a two-dimensional city map, which allowed for an alternative way of moving through the city. Additional features of the map interface included the ability to jump back and forth between correlated aerial photographic and cartoon renderings with routes and landmarks highlighted; and to zoom in and out à la Charles Eames’s Powers of Ten
Powers of Ten
Powers of Ten is a 1968 American documentary short film written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames. The film depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten . The film is an adaptation of the book Cosmic View by Dutch educator Kees Boeke, and more recently is the basis of a new...
film.
Aspen was filmed in early fall and winter. The user was able to in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
change seasons on demand while moving down the street or looking at a façade. A three-dimensional polygonal model of the city was also generated, using the Quick and Dirty Animation System (QADAS
Qadas
Qadas was a Lebanese village located 17 kilometers northeast of Safad that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. One of seven Shiite Muslim villages called Metawalis that fell within the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine, Qadas lay adjacent to Nebi Yusha, near the tel of the...
), which featured three-dimensional texture-mapping
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
of the facades of landmark buildings, using an algorithm designed by Paul Heckbert. These computer-graphic images, also stored on the laserdisc, were also correlated to the video, enabling the user to view an abstract rendering of the city in real time.
Credits
MIT undergraduate Peter Clay, with help from Bob Mohl and Michael NaimarkMichael Naimark
Michael Naimark is a media artist and researcher who often explores “place representation.”- Biography :Naimark helped found a number of prominent research labs including the MIT Media Laboratory , the Atari Research Lab , the Apple Multimedia Lab , Lucasfilm Interactive , and Interval Research...
, filmed the hallways of MIT with a camera mounted on a cart. The film was transferred to a laserdisc as part of a collection of projects being done at the Architecture Machine Group (ArcMac).
The Aspen Movie Map was filmed in the fall of 1978, in winter 1979 and briefly again (with an active gyro stabilizer) in the fall of 1979. The first version was operational in early spring of 1979.
Many people were involved in the production, most notably: Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte is an American architect best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also known as the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association ....
, founder and director of the Architecture Machine Group, who found support for the project from the Cybernetics Technology Office of DARPA; Andrew Lippman, principal investigator; Bob Mohl, who designed the map overlay system and ran user studies of the efficacy of the system for his PhD thesis; Richard Leacock
Richard Leacock
Richard Leacock was a British-born documentary film director and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema and Cinéma vérité.-Early life and career:...
(Ricky), who headed the MIT Film/Video section and shot along with MS student Marek Zalewski the Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
interviews placed behind the facades of key buildings; John Borden, of Peace River Films in Cambridge, MA, who designed the stabilization rig; Kristina Hooper of UCSC; Rebecca Allen
Rebecca Allen
Rebecca Allen is an international artist inspired by a variety of media to create work from 3-D computer graphics, animation, music videos, video games, performance works, artificial life systems, multisensory interfaces, interactive installations, virtual and mixed reality.- Biography :Allen's...
; Scott Fisher
Scott Fisher
Scott Fisher may refer to:*Scott Fisher *Scott Fisher See also*Scott Fischer, American climber*Scott Fischer, Author...
, who matched the photos of Aspen in the silver-mining days from the historical society to the same scenes in Aspen in 1978 and who experiment with anamorphic imaging of the city (using a Volpe lens); Walter Bender
Walter Bender
Walter Bender is technologist and researcher who has made important contributions in the field of electronic publishing, media, and technology for learning. Bender is on leave as a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab which he led as executive director between 2000 and 2006...
, who designed and built the interface, the client/server model, and the animation system; Steve Gregory
Steve Gregory
Steve Gregory is an English jazz saxophonist and composer. He plays tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophone as well as the flute.Steve Gregory was born in the UK. At St. Paul's School he learned guitar and piano and played clarinet in the school orchestra. He turned down a place at the...
; Stan Sasaki, who built much of the electronics; Steve Yelick, who worked on the laserdisc interface and anamorphic rendering; Eric "Smokehouse" Brown, who built the metadata encoder/decoder; Paul Heckbert worked on the animation system; Mark Shirley and Paul Trevithick
Paul Trevithick
Paul Byers Trevithick is an American inventor, engineer and entrepreneur.Trevithick is a co-founder of , and is currently its CTO. He initiated and is the technical leader of the work that is now the Eclipse Foundation's Higgins project. Supporting this effort, he also co-founded , the , Identity...
, who also worked on the animation; Ken Carson
Ken Carson
Ken is a Mattel toy doll introduced by Mattel in 1961 as the fictional boyfriend of toy doll Barbie introduced in 1959. Similar to his female counterpart, Ken had a fantastically fashionable line of clothing and accessories. In the Barbie mythos, Ken and Barbie met on the set of a TV commercial in...
; Howard Eglowstein; and Michael Naimark
Michael Naimark
Michael Naimark is a media artist and researcher who often explores “place representation.”- Biography :Naimark helped found a number of prominent research labs including the MIT Media Laboratory , the Atari Research Lab , the Apple Multimedia Lab , Lucasfilm Interactive , and Interval Research...
, who was at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies and was responsible for the cinematography design and production.
Purpose and applications
ARPA funding during the late 1970s was subject to the military application requirements of the notorious Mansfield Amendment introduced by Mike MansfieldMike Mansfield
Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...
(which had severely limited funding for hypertext
Hypertext
Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...
researchers like Douglas Engelbart
Douglas Engelbart
Douglas Carl Engelbart is an American inventor, and an early computer and internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on the challenges of human-computer interaction, resulting in the invention of the computer mouse, and the development of hypertext, networked computers, and precursors to GUIs...
).
The Aspen Movie Map's military application was to solve the problem of quickly familiarizing soldiers with new territory. The Department of Defense had been deeply impressed by the success of Operation Entebbe
Operation Entebbe
Operation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Special Forces of the Israel Defense Forces at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists and...
in 1976, where the Israeli commandos had quickly built a crude replica of the airport and practiced in it before attacking the real thing. DOD hoped that the Movie Map would show the way to a future where computers could instantly create a three-dimensional simulation of a hostile environment at much lower cost and in less time (see virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
).
While the Movie Map has been referred to as an early example of interactive video
Interactive video
The term interactive video usually refers to a technique used to blend interaction and linear film or video.-Interactive video on broadband:Since 2005, interactive video has increased online as the result a number of factors including:...
, it is perhaps more accurate to describe it as a pioneering example of interactive computing
Interactive computing
In computer science, interactive computing refers to software which accepts input from humans — for example, data or commands. Interactive software includes most popular programs, such as word processors or spreadsheet applications. By comparison, noninteractive programs operate without human...
. Video, audio, still images and metadata were retrieved from a database and assembled on the fly by the computer (an Interdata minicomputer running the MagicSix
MagicSix
MagicSix was an operating system for Interdata 7/32 minicomputers. It was used at MIT's Architecture Machine Group as the platform for the Aspen Movie Map....
operating system) redirecting its actions based upon user input; video was the principal, but not sole affordance of the interaction.
Political response
William ProxmireWilliam Proxmire
Edward William Proxmire was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989.-Personal life:...
awarded the project one of his Golden Fleece Award
Golden Fleece Award
The Golden Fleece Award is presented to those public officials in the United States whom the judges feel waste public money.Established in 1975 by former U.S. Senator William Proxmire , and issued until 1988, it was revived by the Advisory Board of the Taxpayers for Common Sense in 2000...
s. Proxmire was later severely criticized by journalist Stewart Brand
Stewart Brand
Stewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. He founded a number of organizations including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation...
.
External links
- EveryScape: Aspen, Colorado
- Aspen Movie Map on Michael Naimark’s website (includes video demo).