Efficient Detection of Patterns in 2D Trajectories of Moving Points

Moving point object data can be analyzed through the discovery of patterns in trajectories. We consider the computational efficiency of detecting four such spatio-temporal patterns, namely flock, leadership, convergence, and encounter, as defined by Laube et al., Finding REMO—detecting relative motion patterns in geospatial lifelines, 201–214, (2004). These patterns are large enough subgroups of the moving point objects that exhibit similar movement in the sense of direction, heading for the same location, and/or proximity. By the use of techniques from computational geometry, including approximation algorithms, we improve the running time bounds of existing algorithms to detect these patterns.

Mining Long, Sharable Patterns in Trajectories of Moving Objects

The efficient analysis of spatio-temporal data, generated by moving objects, is an essential requirement for intelligent location-based services. Spatio-temporal rules can be found by constructing spatio-temporal baskets, from which traditional association rule mining methods can discover spatio-temporal rules. When the items in the baskets are spatio-temporal identifiers and are derived from trajectories of moving objects, the discovered rules represent frequently travelled routes. For some applications, e.g., an intelligent ridesharing application, these frequent routes are only interesting if they are long and sharable, i.e., can potentially be shared by several users. This paper presents a database projection based method for efficiently extracting such long, sharable frequent routes. The method prunes the search space by making use of the minimum length and sharable requirements and avoids the generation of the exponential number of sub-routes of long routes. Considering alternative modelling options for trajectories, leads to the development of two effective variants of the method. SQL-based implementations are described, and extensive experiments on both real life- and large-scale synthetic data show the effectiveness of the method and its variants.

Update-efficient indexing of moving objects in road networks

Recent advances in wireless sensor networks and positioning technologies have boosted new applications that manage moving objects. In such applications, a dynamic index is often built to expedite evaluation of spatial queries. However, the development of efficient indexes is a challenge due to frequent object movement. In this paper, we propose a new update-efficient index method for moving objects in road networks. We introduce a dynamic data structure, called adaptive unit, to group neighboring objects with similar movement patterns. To reduce updates, an adaptive unit captures the movement bounds of the objects based on a prediction method, which considers road-network constraints and the stochastic traffic behavior. A spatial index (e.g., R-tree) for the road network is then built over the adaptive unit structures. Simulation experiments, carried on two different datasets, show that an adaptive-unit based index is efficient for both updating and querying performances.

E-redesigning of society: towards experiential connectivity of generations in Lithuania

The paper reflects on the unique experience of social and technological development in Lithuania since the regaining of independence as a newly reshaped society constructing a distinctive competitive IST-based model at global level. This has presented Lithuanian pattern of how to integrate different experiences and relations between generations in implementing complex information society approaches. The resulting programme in general is linked to the Lisbon objectives of the European Union. The experience of transitional countries in Europe, each different but facing some common problems, may be useful to developing countries in Africa.

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Indexing Fast Moving Objects for kNN Queries Based on Nearest Landmarks

With the rapid advancements in positioning technologies such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless communications, the tracking of continuously moving objects has become more convenient. However, this development poses new challenges to database technology since maintaining up-to-date information regarding the location of moving objects incurs an enormous amount of updates. Existing indexes can no longer keep up with the high update rate while providing speedy retrieval at the same time. This study aims to improve k nearest neighbor (kNN) query performance while reducing update costs. Our approach is based on an important observation that queries usually occur around certain places or spatial landmarks of interest, called reference points. We propose the Reference-Point-based tree (RP-tree), which is a two-layer index structure that indexes moving objects according to reference points. Experimental results show that the RP-tree achieves significant improvement over the TPR-tree.

The 2007 IEEE CEC simulated car racing competition

This paper describes the simulated car racing competition that was arranged as part of the 2007 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation. Both the game that was used as the domain for the competition, the controllers submitted as entries to the competition and its results are presented. With this paper, we hope to provide some insight into the efficacy of various computational intelligence methods on a well-defined game task, as well as an example of one way of running a competition. In the process, we provide a set of reference results for those who wish to use the simplerace game to benchmark their own algorithms. The paper is co-authored by the organizers and participants of the competition.

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Real-time stabilization of long range observation system turbulent video

The paper presents a real-time algorithm that compensates image distortions due to atmospheric turbulence in video sequences, while keeping the real moving objects in the video unharmed. The algorithm involves (1) generation of a “reference” frame, (2) estimation, for each incoming video frame, of a local image displacement map with respect to the reference frame, (3) segmentation of the displacement map into two classes: stationary and moving objects; (4) turbulence compensation of stationary objects. Experiments with both simulated and real-life sequences have shown that the restored videos, generated in real-time using standard computer hardware, exhibit excellent stability for stationary objects while retaining real motion.

Interacting with mobile services: an evaluation of camera-phones and visual tags

We present a study of using camera-phones and visual-tags to access mobile services. Firstly, a user-experience study is described in which participants were both observed learning to interact with a prototype mobile service and interviewed about their experiences. Secondly, a pointing-device task is presented in which quantitative data was gathered regarding the speed and accuracy with which participants aimed and clicked on visual-tags using camera-phones. We found that participants’ attitudes to visual-tag-based applications were broadly positive, although they had several important reservations about camera-phone technology more generally. Data from our pointing-device task demonstrated that novice users were able to aim and click on visual-tags quickly (well under 3 s per pointing-device trial on average) and accurately (almost all meeting our defined speed/accuracy tradeoff of 6% error-rate). Based on our findings, design lessons for camera-phone and visual-tag applications are presented.

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Evolving strategy for a probabilistic game of imperfect information using genetic programming

We provide the complete record of methodology that let us evolve BrilliAnt, the winner of the Ant Wars contest. Ant Wars contestants are virtual ants collecting food on a grid board in the presence of a competing ant. BrilliAnt has been evolved through a competitive one-population coevolution using genetic programming and fitnessless selection. In this paper, we detail the evolutionary setup that lead to BrilliAnt’s emergence, assess its direct and indirect human-competitiveness, and describe the behavioral patterns observed in its strategy.

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Ethical regulations on robotics in Europe

There are only a few ethical regulations that deal explicitly with robots, in contrast to a vast number of regulations, which may be applied. We will focus on ethical issues with regard to “responsibility and autonomous robots”, “machines as a replacement for humans”, and “tele-presence”. Furthermore we will examine examples from special fields of application (medicine and healthcare, armed forces, and entertainment). We do not claim to present a complete list of ethical issue nor of regulations in the field of robotics, but we will demonstrate that there are legal challenges with regard to these issues.

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Content based similarity of geographic classes organized as partition hierarchies

In this paper we propose a method to measure the semantic similarity of geographic classes organized as partition hierarchies within Naive Geography. The contribution of this work consists in extending and integrating the information content approach, and the method for comparing concept attributes in the ontology management system SymOntos developed at IASI. As a result, this proposal allows us to address both the concept similarity within the partition hierarchy, and the attribute similarity of geographic classes and, therefore, to reduce the gap among the different similarity approaches defined in the literature.

Multimodal support to group dynamics

The complexity of group dynamics occurring in small group interactions often hinders the performance of teams. The availability of rich multimodal information about what is going on during the meeting makes it possible to explore the possibility of providing support to dysfunctional teams from facilitation to training sessions addressing both the individuals and the group as a whole. A necessary step in this direction is that of capturing and understanding group dynamics. In this paper, we discuss a particular scenario, in which meeting participants receive multimedia feedback on their relational behaviour, as a first step towards increasing self-awareness. We describe the background and the motivation for a coding scheme for annotating meeting recordings partially inspired by the Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis. This coding scheme was aimed at identifying suitable observable behavioural sequences. The study is complemented with an experimental investigation on the acceptability of such a service.

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Moving objects forecast in image sequences using autoregressive algorithms

The objective of this paper is to present an overall approach to forecasting the future position of the moving objects of an image sequence after processing the images previous to it. The proposed method makes use of classical techniques such as optical flow to extract objects’ trajectories and velocities, and autoregressive algorithms to build the predictive model. Our method can be used in a variety of applications, where videos with stationary cameras are used, moving objects are not deformed and change their position with time. One of these applications is traffic control, which is used in this paper as a case study with different meteorological conditions to compare with.

Dynamic space reconfiguration for Bayesian search and tracking with moving targets

This paper presents a technique for dynamically reconfiguring search spaces in order to enable Bayesian autonomous search and tracking missions with moving targets. In particular, marine search and rescue scenarios are considered, highlighting the need for space reconfiguration in situations where moving targets are involved. The proposed technique improves the search space configuration by maintaining the validity of the recursive Bayesian estimation. The advantage of the technique is that autonomous search and tracking can be performed indefinitely, without loss of information. Numerical results first show the effectiveness of the technique with a single search vehicle and a single moving target. The efficacy of the approach for coordinated autonomous search and tracking is shown through simulation, incorporating multiple search vehicles and multiple targets. The examples also highlight the added benefit to human mission planners resulting from the technique’s simplification of the search space allocation task.

Making SVMs Scalable to Large Data Sets using Hierarchical Cluster Indexing

Support vector machines (SVMs) have been promising methods for classification and regression analysis due to their solid mathematical foundations, which include two desirable properties: margin maximization and nonlinear classification using kernels. However, despite these prominent properties, SVMs are usually not chosen for large-scale data mining problems because their training complexity is highly dependent on the data set size. Unlike traditional pattern recognition and machine learning, real-world data mining applications often involve huge numbers of data records. Thus it is too expensive to perform multiple scans on the entire data set, and it is also infeasible to put the data set in memory. This paper presents a method, Clustering-Based SVM (CB-SVM), that maximizes the SVM performance for very large data sets given a limited amount of resource, e.g., memory. CB-SVM applies a hierarchical micro-clustering algorithm that scans the entire data set only once to provide an SVM with high quality samples. These samples carry statistical summaries of the data and maximize the benefit of learning. Our analyses show that the training complexity of CB-SVM is quadratically dependent on the number of support vectors, which is usually much less than that of the entire data set. Our experiments on synthetic and real-world data sets show that CB-SVM is highly scalable for very large data sets and very accurate in terms of classification. A preliminary version of the paper, “Classifying Large Data Sets Using SVM with Hierarchical Clusters”, by H. Yu, J. Yang, and J. Han, appeared in Proc. 2003 Int. Conf. on Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD'03), Washington, DC, August 2003. However, this submission has substantially extended the previous paper and contains new and major-value added technical contribution in comparison with the conference publication.

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Methods for quantitative usability requirements: a case study on the development of the user interface of a mobile phone

Quantitative usability requirements are a critical but challenging, and hence an often neglected aspect of a usability engineering process. A case study is described where quantitative usability requirements played a key role in the development of a new user interface of a mobile phone. Within the practical constraints of the project, existing methods for determining usability requirements and evaluating the extent to which these are met, could not be applied as such, therefore tailored methods had to be developed. These methods and their applications are discussed.

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COMUNICAR: designing a multimedia, context-aware human-machine interface for cars

The European Union co-funded COMUNICAR (communication multimedia unit inside car) project designed and developed an integrated multimedia human–machine interface (HMI) able to manage a wide variety of driver information systems (from entertainment to safety). COMUNICAR proposed an innovative information provision paradigm, in which the on-vehicle HMI is able to tailor the delivery of the information in real time according to the actual driving context and the drivers workload. COMUNICAR adopted a user-centred design process involving an iterative development based on extensive user tests since the early phases of the project. This approach was particularly useful to define and improve the layout of the user interface and specify the rules that decide the scheduling and the modalities of the delivery of the information messages to the driver. This paper introduces the COMUNICAR concept and the user-centred flow of design. Then, a concrete case of user-test driven, iterative improvement of a systems functionality is presented. We also briefly describe two software tools that we have designed to enhance the development process in a user-centred perspective. Finally, the future evolution of the concept of smart and safe information scheduling is sketched and discussed.

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A grid-based node split algorithm for managing current location data of moving objects

There is rapidly increasing interest in Location Based Service (LBS) which utilizes location data of moving objects. To efficiently manage the huge amounts of location data in LBS, the GALIS (Gracefully Aging Location Information System) architecture, a cluster-based distributed computing architecture, is proposed. The GALIS using the non-uniform 2-level grid algorithm performs load balancing and indexing for nodes. However, the non-uniform 2-level grid algorithm has a problem creating unnecessary nodes when moving objects are crowded in a certain region. Therefore, a new node split algorithm, which is more efficient for various distribution of moving objects, is proposed in this paper. Because the algorithm proposed in this paper considers spatial distribution for the current location of moving objects, it can perform efficient load balancing without creating unnecessary nodes even when moving objects are congested in a certain region. Besides, the various data distribution configuration for moving objects has been experimented by implementing node split simulators and it’s been verified that the proposed algorithm can split nodes more efficiently than the existing algorithm.

ONTRACK: Dynamically adapting music playback to support navigation

Listening to music on personal, digital devices whilst mobile is an enjoyable, everyday activity. We explore a scheme for exploiting this practice to immerse listeners in navigation cues. Our prototype, ONTRACK, continuously adapts audio, modifying the spatial balance and volume to lead listeners to their target destination. First we report on an initial lab-based evaluation that demonstrated the approach’s efficacy: users were able to complete tasks within a reasonable time and their subjective feedback was positive. Encouraged by these results we constructed a handheld prototype. Here, we discuss this implementation and the results of field-trials. These indicate that even with a low-fidelity realisation of the concept, users can quite effectively navigate complicated routes.

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