Google to Reopen Map Maker Editing Tool After Closing it Due to Abuse

As reported by ITWorld: After halting the service due to an influx of spam, Google is ready to open Map Maker again, with changes that hand much of the control back to users.

Map Maker lets people update the information in Google Maps to make it more accurate. The service will reopen in phases starting early next month, Pavithra Kanakarajan of the Google Map Maker team said in a blog post Monday.

Google suspended the service in May after a rash of unwanted edits. In one prominent case, a prankster drew the Android mascot urinating on the Apple logo. Google turned off user moderation and started reviewing edits manually itself, but that caused a huge backlog and eventually it suspended Map Maker altogether.

With the reopening, Google will again ask users to review edits, but in a different way. It will select mappers in each region around the world and invite them to become “regional leads.” Edits will be reviewed by those leads, though also by Google’s automated systems. Google’s employees will only occasionally moderate edits, Kanakarajan said.

The new process means some changes might take longer to go through. But Google, apparently, thinks handing the reins to a select few mappers will lead to better quality edits.

“The reason for this change is that every time we observed someone attempting to vandalize the map, many of you acted quickly to remove the offending feature and demonstrated real ownership for maps within your region,” Kanakarajan wrote. “We have come to the conclusion that of all the defenses available to keeping our maps clean, the interest of a community of well-intentioned users, is among the most reliable and fast.”

Life Without Smartphones Is Hard to Imagine, According to Nearly Half of U.S. Smartphone Users

As reported by Entrepreneur: The devices have only been around for a decade, but already they have so fundamentally infiltrated our day-to-day that for many of us, life can be broken down into two distinct eras: before and after the advent of the smartphone.

That's a reasonable takeaway from a recent Gallup poll of nearly 16,000 U.S. smartphone users which found that nearly half of respondents (46 percent) agreed with the statement, "I can't imagine my life without a smartphone."

On its surface, that’s a dramatic (and vague) statement, but answers to some of Gallup's following questions paint a good picture of the sneaky, vital and constant ways smartphones have come to shape the way we live.

Smartphone users tend to keep our phones nearby at all times; in a previous Gallup poll, 81 percent of smartphone users keep their phones nearby for the entire day, and 72 percent report checking the device hourly. Which honestly, seems like monumental restraint (writing this, I checked my phone for a text alert, to use the calculator, and just….because).   

Our smartphone attachment doesn't end when the day does, either: Sixty-three percent of smartphone owners also bring their devices to bed with them.

Despite this dependence, the vast majority of respondents (70 percent) report that smartphones have improved their lives.

Taken together, that nearly half of respondents can't envision a life without their smartphones isn't too surprising. The devices have become our constant companions; we rely on them to wake us up in the morning, get us where we need to go, answer email and a thousand other things.

"The smartphone is transformative for those who use it, not only by making their lives better, but by becoming something of a fifth limb," Gallup writes.

New Record For Solar-Powered Autonomous Flight: 28 Hours Without Refueling

As reported by RoboHub: The AtlantikSolar Unmanned Aerial Vehicle took off on June 30th, 2015 at 11:14 o’clock to attempt the “holy grail” of solar-powered flight: the crossing of a full day-night cycle on solar power alone. More than 28 hours later, on July 1st at 15:35, the aircraft landed safely and with fully recharged batteries, thus showing AtlantikSolar’s long-endurance flight capability. This is of significant interest for large-scale disaster support, industrial inspection or meteorological observation missions, especially in the compact form of a hand-launchable 7kg UAV such as AtlantikSolar.

The flight was performed at the Rafz RC-model club airfield in excellent sun conditions. After take-off at 11:14, with batteries charged to 57%, the aircraft was quickly setup to follow an efficient and fully-autonomous loitering path, which allowed a completed battery-charge by 14:08 o’clock.

The midday and afternoon were characterized by strong thermal up- and downdrafts, but enough power was generated by the solar panels to keep the batteries full. Their discharge started only when the sun slowly went down at around 19:30.

The night flight provided calm conditions, with the autopilot keeping the aircraft stable despite horizontal winds of up to 5m/s, and the safety pilots keeping a good eye on the aircraft using its position indicator lights. Flying at an average airspeed of 8.4m/s (the point of minimum sink rate) and an average power consumption of 43W during the night, the aircraft received first sun at around 5:50 o’clock, and maintained a minimum charge of around 35% until the solar modules regenerated enough power to stay airborne.

After 24 hours of continuous flight, the aircraft had recharged its batteries to 84%, a significantly higher state-of-charge than the day before. The batteries were in fact fully charged by 12:43 o’clock – one hour and twenty-five minutes earlier than the day before.

AtlantikSolar landed safely at 15:35, thereby setting a new Swiss endurance record for unmanned solar-powered flight, and improving upon the previous internal record (ASL’sSky Sailor) by a over an hour.

The project’s next goal is to extend the flight duration to more than 80 hours (3 days), in order to beat the old endurance record for solar-powered UAVs below 20kg (48h flight by the 13kg SoLong UAV in 2005) by more than a day. If it is able to achieve an 80-hour flight endurance, the 7kg AtlantikSolar would be the third-longest flying aircraft in the world, only behind Airbus Space’s 53kg Zephyr and the 2300kg Solar Impulse 2.

We’d like to thank everybody who made this flight possible — including all project partners and collaborators, the Rafz Model airfield club, and our safety pilots — for working so hard and making this big step in the project possible.

The AtlantikSolar project was developed at the Autonomous Systems Lab at ETH Zurich. 

NASA Announces Astronauts Chosen for Boeing, SpaceX ISS Flights

As reported by IBT: NASA announced on 9 July that four astronauts had been selected to train for launch on the new commercial crew capsules built by Boeing and SpaceX enrollee to the International Space Station (ISS) beginning in 2017.

"I am pleased to announce four American space pioneers have been selected to be the first astronauts to train to fly to space on commercial crew vehicles, all part of our ambitious plan to return space launches to US soil, create good-paying American jobs and advance our goal of sending humans farther into the solar system than ever before," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

Bolden continued, "These distinguished, veteran astronauts are blazing a new trail — a trail that will one day land them in the history books and Americans on the surface of Mars."

The four astronauts selected are Robert Behnken, Eric Boe, Douglas Hurley and Sunita Williams. The astronauts will be working with Boeing and SpaceX to develop crew transportation systems and provide crew transportation services to and from the Iss, the statement said.

According to CBS News, Behnken said, "It's really been the dream of all of us to participate in the test of a new vehicle, and a vehicle like a spacecraft is probably the gem, if you will, of a career...I would have been embarrassed as a test pilot school graduate to not have jumped at the opportunity, if it was offered to me, to fly a new spacecraft. Hopefully, I'll get that chance soon."

Hurley added, "To be part of a new test program ... is extremely exciting. The challenge from a test pilot perspective is great, and I'm just looking forward to (getting) from today all the way up to the space station."

Popular Mechanics reported that Behnken flew on two shuttle missions and trains as a rescue crew member in case STS-125 experienced any problems while servicing Hubble. Boe and Hurley also flew on two shuttle missions. Meanwhile, Williams flew on shuttle mission STS-116 on a 192 day stay to the ISS in 2006 and would return to the space station in 2012.

John Elbon, the vice president and general manager of Boeing's Space Exploration, congratulated the four astronauts on their selection. "Congratulations to Bob, Eric, Doug and Sunita and welcome to the Commercial Crew team. We look forward to working with such a highly-skilled and experienced group of Nasa astronauts as we carve a path forward to launch in 2017."

President and COO of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell added, "We look forward to working with them even more closely as we prepare for the first human missions to the space station on Crew Dragon. Human spaceflight is why SpaceX was founded, and we look forward to supporting our nation's exploration efforts by launching astronauts from America again."

CBS News reported that Boeing holds a $4.2B (£2.7b) contract with NASA to develop the CST-100 capsule, which can carry at least four astronauts and will be launched on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

Similarly, SpaceX holds a $2.6B (£1.6b) contract to build a human-rated version of the Dragon capsule used to deliver cargo to the ISS. The pilot version of the Dragon will carry at least four astronauts and fly atop the Falcon 9 rocket.

Iowa Makes a Bold Admission: We Need Fewer Roads

As reported by CityLab: Per capita driving has peaked in America, and with that new normal comes the question of whether or not we should be spending limited transportation funding on building new roads. If nothing else the driving trends support the wisdom of a “fix-it-first” policy that focuses on highway maintenance over expansion.

Iowa DOT chief Paul Trombino recently took that logical conclusion one step further. During an Urban Land Institute talk, Trombino told the audience he expects the state’s overbuilt and unsustainable road network to “shrink,”according to Charles Marohn of Strong Towns. Iowans should figure out which roads “we really want to keep” and let the others “deteriorate and go away.”

The key quotes, via Marohn (our emphasis):

I said the numbers before. 114,000 lane miles, 25,000 bridges, 4,000 miles of rail. I said this a lot in my conversation when we were talking about fuel tax increases. It’s not affordable. Nobody’s going to pay.  We are. We’re the ones. Look in the mirror. We’re not going to pay to rebuild that entire system.  And my personal belief is that the entire system is unneeded. And so the reality is, the system is going to shrink.

Marohn characterizes the admission as a stunning one, and indeed it’s not everyday a U.S. transportation leader calls for fewer highways. But Trombino’s assessment is also spot on.

Iowa’s road network is already as big as it needs to be. Per capita driving peaked in the state in 2004 and has since been on the decline. Yet from 2009 to 2011 the state still spent 52 percent of its highway money on expansion. No surprise, then, that its share of roads in “good” condition fell from an already low 39 percent in 2008 to a frightful 21 percent by 2011. Iowa spends about $217 million a year on road repair, but Smart Growth America estimates that to get its roads into decent shape it needs to spend closer to $555 million a year over the next 20 years.

Iowa and Ohio are two states where vehicle mileage had peaked by 2004. (Via Timothy Garceau)

Trombino might be more candid about the problem than most officials, but others have recognized it. Last year the Washington State DOT made a severe adjustment to its vehicle mileage outlook in the coming decades based on a recognition that driving trends weren’t growing as they had in the past. Instead of expected continued gradual growth, WashDOT instead called for 0.4 percent growth through 2019 then a 0.4 percent decline through 2043.

Via Sightline

Cash-strapped metro areas have started to urge their state DOTs to make similar realizations about driving trends. In Ohio, where vehicle mileage also peaked around 2004, a number of metropolitan planning organizations have pushed for a new policy toward highways that focuses on maintenance over expansion, Streetblog’s Angie Schmitt reported in April. For some of these places, letting the road network shrink, as Iowa proposes, might be the wisest option.

SpaceX Has Time on its Side to Demonstrate Readiness for GPS Launch

As reported by the SpaceFlight Now: Sunday’s Falcon 9 rocket failure may have blemished SpaceX’s success record, but the mishap will not keep the entrepreneurial space company from competing for U.S. military launch contracts with rival United Launch Alliance, according to an Air Force general.

SpaceX won certification from the Air Force in May to haul up sensitive and costly military satellites, and Pentagon officials announced it would accept bids from ULA and SpaceX this year for the right to launch a future GPS navigation satellite. The GPS mission is the first competitive procurement for a U.S. national security launch in more than a decade.

The Air Force said in May a specific satellite for the competition was not yet identified, but it would be one of the military’s next-generation GPS 3 navigation payloads. The initial three GPS 3 launches, expected to begin in 2017, have already been assigned to ULA’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets.

The GPS 3 launch procurement is the first of nine launch opportunities the Pentagon plans to open for bids through 2017, a set of missions the Air Force calls “Phase 1A” in the service’s effort to foster competition in the launch market.

“SpaceX remains certified and can compete for the upcoming GPS 3 launch services,” said Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, commander of the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center. “This anomaly does not change the Air Force plans or timelines for the Phase 1A competitions. The Air Force will continue to objectively review all proposal submissions for launch services against the criteria in the relevant solicitation.”

The Air Force announced May 26 that SpaceX received certification for national security space launches, ending a nearly two-year process involving flight data reviews, engineering analyses and financial audits. The Air Force said it approved the Falcon 9 rocket for launch competitions based on the booster’s flight history, before completing all the milestones outlined in a 2013 agreement that laid the framework for certification.

The Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket configuration, which SpaceX intended to bid for Air Force missions, achieved 13 straight successful flights before Sunday’s failure.

SpaceX officials criticized the length of the Pentagon’s certification review, and the California rocket company filed a lawsuit against the Air Force in April 2014 after the Defense Department awarded a sole-source $11 billion contract to ULA for 36 Atlas and Delta rocket cores. The hardware will cover 28 launches.

The Air Force claimed the bulk purchase of launches from ULA saved the service more than $4 billion compared to cost projections from 2012. SpaceX says it can save the Air Force even more money by launching its satellites at less cost than ULA.

SpaceX and the Air Force settled the lawsuit in January, keeping the ULA block buy intact as the military promised to certify the Falcon 9 rocket by mid-2015.

Greaves said the Air Force was invited to participate in the investigation into Sunday’s failure. Because the launch was a commercial flight, SpaceX is leading the inquiry under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration. NASA and the Air Force are supporting SpaceX.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and ULA’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets are currently the only launchers certified for the military’s most expensive payloads, which include clandestine spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, missile warning platforms, nuclear-hardened communications craft, and GPS navigation spacecraft, which are vital for many military and civilian applications.

The Falcon Heavy will go through its own certification reviews after completing three successful launches. Before Sunday’s failure, SpaceX said the heavy-lift booster was set for its first demo flight late this year, but it is not clear how the Falcon 9 mishap could effect those plans.

SpaceX says it has told customers booked to launch on upcoming Falcon 9 missions to expect launch delays of a few months in the wake of Sunday’s rocket crash.

Google Tests its Driverless Cars in Austin, the Age of Autonomous Taxis Nears

As reported by CNET: If you spot a Lexus SUV driving itself to your favorite Austin barbecue joint, don't panic. Google's self-driving car has arrived in Texas.

In a Google+ post Tuesday, Google announced that it has picked Austin as the next location for its self-driving vehicle tests. To rev up the project, one of the company's Lexus SUVs is already driving around a few square miles north and northeast of downtown Austin -- with a backup driver behind the wheel for good measure.

Austin marks the second testbed for Google'srobo-cars. The company has already been driving around the streets of Mountain View, Calif., with its fleet of modified Lexus RX450h cars and Toyota Prius models. But expanding the program to another city is important at this point as the cars need to learn how to navigate the different roads, driving conditions and challenges offered in other locales.

So just how have the cars been faring without a driver?

In May, Google released a report on its self-driving car project, revealing that over the course of six years and more than 1.8 million miles of autonomous and manual driving, its cars have been involved in 12 minor accidents. In all of those cases, according to Google, a human being driving the other car was the cause of the accident rather than one of Google's robo-cars-- and no injuries occurred. Still, that opens up the thorny issue of how Google's cars can learn to share the road with human drivers, who may be more apt to make mistakes than the self-driving cars themselves.

Google has acknowledged the challenges involved when man meets machine.

"Even when our software and sensors can detect a sticky situation and take action earlier and faster than an alert human driver, sometimes we won't be able to overcome the realities of speed and distance; sometimes we'll get hit just waiting for a light to change," Chris Urmson, director of the company's self-driving car program, said in a blog post in May. "And that's important context for communities with self-driving cars on their streets; although we wish we could avoid all accidents, some will be unavoidable."

What, if anything, has Google been doing to try to avoid accidents caused by other cars?

"Our sensors give us 360-degree visibility around the vehicle at all times, out to a distance of nearly two football fields, and the vehicle never gets distracted," a Google spokeswoman said. "We've also baked-in defensive driving behavior: We do things to avoid getting into a tricky situation in the first place -- e.g. staying out of other drivers' blind spots, nudging away from lane-splitting motorcycles or wobbling vehicles, pausing 1.5 seconds before proceeding into an intersection after a red light turns green, etc. It still amazes us how many times people have rear-ended us while we've been completely stopped at a stoplight for several seconds."

So far, the backup or -- as Google calls them -- safety drivers in the prototype cars have had a steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal that allows them to take control if needed. The speed of the cars have been capped at 25 miles per hour. But what happens when the cars don't have a backup driver and start driving at normal speed limits? That prospect is still a number of years away, which is why testing the cars in different cities and different scenarios is crucial.

"It's important for us to get experience testing our software in different driving environments, traffic patterns and road conditions -- so we're ready to take on Austin's pedicabs, pickup trucks and everything in between," Google said in its post. "Keep it weird for us, Austin, and visit our website to let us know how we're driving."

A second self-driving Lexus will arrive in Austin later this week, the spokeswoman said.

Since the self-driving project got off the ground in 2009, most of Google's testing has taken place in its home base of Mountain View. Now the company not only wants to work with driving conditions elsewhere but also "learn how different communities perceive and interact with self-driving vehicles, and that can vary in different parts of the country," the spokeswoman added.

Beyond Google, major automakers such as Ford, Audi and Nissan have all been experimenting with self-driving cars. In March, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of the Nissan-Renault Alliance, said he expects autonomous-driving to have three phases: a first wave emerging in 2016, followed by self-driving cars that navigate a highway by 2018 and then cars that can negotiate city driving by 2020. That same month, Elon Musk, CEO of electric-car maker Tesla Motors, said he expects self-driving cars to be the norm within 20 years.

Self-driving cars may still be a rare sight on the roads as they've typically been restricted to testing facilities under controlled conditions. But they are coming, sooner or later. If Google and the automakers can hammer out the challenges of navigating the roads, self-driving cars could potentially save some of the more than 1 million people killed each year in car accidents worldwide.