A newly minted Marhsall Scholar from MIT, David Reshef, arrived yesterday for a visit. Even though he happens to date my friend Clara, I'm thoroughly convinced that he came to visit me, not her. We had a blast talking science and generally reveling in nerdiness. David was lucky to attend last year's TED conference. These conferences are supposed to be on "ideas worth spreading" by "the world's greatest thinkers and doers." One of the coolest aspects of the conferences (at least for a schmuck like me who doesn't get invited) is that many of the best presentations are posted online. David reminded me of one of my favorite presentations I'd watched. In it, a guy named Blaise Aguera y Arcas shows how millions of publicly shared photos online can be combined in order to reconstruct three dimensional models of major landmarks. He takes the example of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. By collecting what are essentially touristy photographs taken from different views, in different lighting conditions, and with different obstructing faces blocking out parts of the cathedral, Blaise constructs a single model of the building. It's a pretty impressive demonstration.
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