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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[UPDATE] Path of Least Time 12th May 2006
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Juxta
Unfettered

Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 675

[UPDATE] Path of Least Time 12th May 2006

Quote:
Stone Mills
Friday, May 12 2006, 12:01 PM


There is one building in Stone Mills around which all others huddle for warmth and security. It's not a civic building or a skyscraper or a monument - it's a mall. Apparently if you live this far from a big city, the natural human instinct is to gather together in a huge, artificial shopping centre and buy stuff they don't need. I'd be depressed about visiting, apart from the fact that mall towns, and of course the malls themselves, tend to have a lot of surveillance cameras.

I'm going to be doing something rather clever with the cameras here in Stone Mills. They aren't as capable as the cameras in Perplex City, and they aren't advanced enough for me to do proper face or audio recognition of everyone in the town, but they're still good enough to pick out and track individuals in a crowd.

Imagine you had a bird's eye view of a crowded street (which cameras do). You can't see their faces, but it's still possible to learn a lot about people in the crowd. You might see one person walk urgently down the road and decide that he's a healthy businessmen. You might see other smaller people walk around in groups a little slower, and infer that they're schoolchildren. The group of people who walk around slowly and erratically, pausing occasionally? Maybe tourists.

I've taken an existing algorithm that examines individual's walking patterns and tweaked it to look for someone who is like Miranda. In other words, someone who is confident and quick, but isn't completely familiar with the town layout and avoids public transportation areas. That's quite a general description in a town of thousands, but combining them with some of her actual and possible physical characteristics (height, build, hair colour, skin colour, etc) should narrow things down. Since this is a smaller area than Perplex City, I can run a 'local global search' very frequently.

The search has been running for a few hours now, although I would be very surprised if Miranda could get here at any time before late morning - there's a limit to how fast she can run, and for how long. You can view the results as they come in. The algorithm assigns probabilities to results based on how closely they match my 'Miranda parameters', so it'll be possible to evaluate 'sightings' and, if all goes well, determine her location and path.

When I arrived at Stone Mills yesterday evening, I didn't feel like shopping around for hotels, so I ended up staying in the one attached to the mall. It's not exactly the most cheerful of places, but it's made it easier for me to tap into the mall's video feeds. Working from here also gives me the opportunity to do exercises to keep myself in shape. My ankle's improved dramatically since yesterday, and while I don't want to risk things, I think I might be able to stop using the walking stick tomorrow. Then things will change.

"What are you going to try today, Miranda?" I ask silently, while monitoring the search.

"Something you can't predict," she replies.

"You can't predict everything, either. You probably don't even believe I could have come this far."



Woo...Smile for the camera Miranda!
J
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 8:44 am
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_izzy_
Veteran

Joined: 05 Apr 2006
Posts: 99
Location: Hertfordshire, UK

the results from kurt's search so far are:

11.30 Time stamp 11.20 match %: 60.9%
11.32 Time stamp 11.30 match %: 78.6%
11.58 Time stamp 11.58 match %: 60.9%
12.01 Time stamp 12.10 match %: 84.0%
12.10 Time stamp 12.10 match %: 83.0%
12.37 Time stamp 12.37 match %: 54.2%

i'm guessing for the minute we are looking for one on the east side of town - as that is the direction she is traveling from

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 9:02 am
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frankthetoad
Greenhorn

Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 5
Location: Baton Rouge

Timestamp: 11:30
Match: 84.6%

On the easternmost side.

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 10:16 am
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frankthetoad
Greenhorn

Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 5
Location: Baton Rouge

Timestamp 12:37- Match 54.2
Timestamp 13:12- Match 84.1
Timestamp 13:15- Match 80.1
Timestamp 13:38- Match 82.2
Timestamp 13:58- Match 78.2
Timestamp 14:25- Match 56.0
Timestamp 14:30- Match 75.6

I guess none of this information is particularly useful if there is no connect-the-dot graphic to accompany it....

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 10:43 am
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patrick
Boot


Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 37
Location: london(ish)

I think we may have to connect the dots ourselves.

I started from the far east, looking only at the matches that are over 80%, in chronological order. Starting at the 11.30 one, she moves north to 12.10 then 13.12 just below the train tracks in the north...then west to 13.15...then double back and sort of south to 13.38 in the green bit amongst those houses, then 13.58 just east of that...then south to 14.30. But by that time the match percentage has dropped to around 75% - perhaps because she's tired and walking a little slower.

Anyway, it looks to me like she's heading towards the mall. I've sent Kurt a quick email, though I'm sure he's watching as well.

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:04 am
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jojojojo
Decorated


Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 208
Location: Where the puffins fly, and the sheep roam.

She seems to be heading to the mall, but my concern is that to the south of that, there is what seems to be some kind of jetty? She's trying to cross the river, without a doubt.
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:24 am
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patrick
Boot


Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 37
Location: london(ish)

Yeah, you're probably right there. I'm hoping Kurt can 'head her off at the pass' - or Starbucks, while she's waiting for her iced latte. Very Happy

EDIT: We just got 14.40 and 15.00 up. She's definitely heading south, between those rows of houses.

What if she's not running away anymore? Maybe she wants to get rid of Kurt.

Well, I guess Kurt can...whack her with his stick or something...

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:32 am
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Mattie-Liz
Greenhorn

Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 8

This just appeared on the west side of town:

Timestamp 15:09 Match 82.4%

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:45 am
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patrick
Boot


Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 37
Location: london(ish)

Good spot!

If this is the same person, they must have been running fast to cover that much ground from 15.00 to 15.09...

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:51 am
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dig65
Boot


Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 27

Great siting in the South East

Time Stamp: 15:48
Percentage: 96.4%

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:04 pm
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ryandrew
Unfettered


Joined: 21 Jan 2005
Posts: 575
Location: Manchester

Sighting:
97.9%-South and to the centre-at that bridge type thing!
Time: 15.53
Damn her!

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:06 pm
Last edited by ryandrew on Fri May 12, 2006 12:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
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jmacmoe
Greenhorn


Joined: 12 May 2006
Posts: 3

Looks like there's another one to the north:

15:31 - 81.9%

And one more to the south:

15:40 - 80.9%

EDIT - Ah! they're popping up all over the place!

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:08 pm
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mac_monkey
Decorated

Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Posts: 250

15:53 on the jette 97.9%


/me trouts self Trout
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:11 pm
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badbarry
Veteran

Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Posts: 140
Location: London

Shouldn't Kurt be leaping hobbling into action?

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:24 pm
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frankthetoad
Greenhorn

Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 5
Location: Baton Rouge

badbarry wrote:
Shouldn't Kurt be leaping hobbling into action?
I think he can leap since he put that cream on his ankle!

PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 1:00 pm
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