fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
How Blockchain Technology Can Help Power Fitness Industry?
Tags: Blockchain Technology, Smart Contracts, Healthcare, Fitness, Gym

The health and fitness industry is growing enormously, there are so many products and services available in the market to encourage, and motivate to work on the well being of health and fitness. And why not? — after all — “Health is Wealth”.

At present time, the health and related insurance costs are rising with time, leading for people to take things seriously. Also, many are giving attention to their health diverging towards natural, organic food products and a healthy lifestyle. And it is important, especially since the breakthrough of COVID-19 it had made us realize how important our health is and how much we take it for granted.

In this blog, we are going to discuss about how blockchain technology can help power fitness industry.

Fitness Industry and Blockchain Technology

Many health and fitness enthusiasts are eventually using fitness applications along with the activities they perform. There are many fitness brands and online services available in the market.

The use of gamification in the healthcare industry has led to encouragement for participation improvising outcome and along with blockchain technology, it can help boost the process through transparency that the technology provides.

With blockchain technology, the user’s data can be ensured with security and privacy while it removes the need for intermediaries as every transaction is made on the encrypted blockchain network. Since the data will be stored on the blockchain the users will gain complete access and control to its health information.

Blockchain technology also facilitates smart contracts that would enable users to access and receive tips and lessons. The users can also leverage upon connecting with their trainer through videos on the public blockchain and the industry can also provide loyalty programs to their users. The users can simply download lessons and content uploaded by their trainers through payment.

Also Read, Relationship Between Crypto Investment And Mental Health

Along with this, the gym owners can benefit too as there would be no involvement of the 3rd parties and they can receive payments through this platform.
Smart contracts: how do we use it?
By: Mbi Defi
Tags: Mbi Defi, Smart Contracts

In the MBI DeFi project we use smart contracts in order to remove both the human factor and the possible influence of third parties that might affect the deal. It is thanks to the smart contract technology that we can guarantee the following benefits:

Automation: The use of smart contracts simplifies the process, brings speed, clarity, and precision.

Cost-efficient: Smart contracts execute immediately once the terms that bind the contract has been fulfilled.

Autonomy: Smart contracts are self-sufficient, safety and security.

The use of smart contracts allows us to ensure transparency both during split stock, and any other internal transaction. Users can always track and verify any transaction, and see where their money went. In addition to fully automated operation that doesn’t involve third parties, smart contracts guarantee that deals are only made when all the prerequisites are fulfilled by all participants.

All that will allow us to strengthen the public’s trust in our project! Join MBI DeFi now and get to experience all of the advantages provided by smart contracts!
Welcome To TRON3X
By: Prince Reddy
Tags: Tron, Smart Contracts, Defi, Tronwallet Kr, Cryptocurrency News

Welcome To TRON3X

The Most sustainable and fully DECENTRALIZED 100% TRON support model, based on smart contract technology ✅

The TRON3X Smart Contract is designed to provide everyone with an independent, financial foundation based on Blockchain and Smart Contract technology.

By DEPOSITING TRX into the fund (contract address) you activate the program and will RECEIVE 300 % back, distributed according to the Contract algorithm.

TRON3X is 100% decentralized and community-based; there are no additional profits made in the system, it is a P2P support model, which insures fairness, transparency and justice for all.

There are no mediators or intermediaries, no owners, no company or human interaction, effectively guaranteeing the fairness of all participating partners according to the rules of the Smart Contract.

It is the most reasonable, safest, and best cutting-edge financial SUPPORT model available at this time.

Enter TRON3X by depositing a minimum of 100TRX to the Fund.

You are now eligible to receive 300% of your DEPOSIT back

(Example: 100TRX in, 300 TRX out).

300% return is returned in 4 ways

(1 passive and 3 via marketing)

When 300 % is accumulated through any of the 4 ways, a new deposit must be made equal or greater to continue receiving from the fund.

✅ 2% Daily return on your Deposit (maximum 150 days), 100% Passive.

✅10% Direct Referral Commission for Sharing and Growing the Community Fund

✅Daily matching Commission based on Partners Daily Income, 1 level activated for each direct partner, maximum 15 levels, see below

1st generation 30%

2nd generation 10%

3rd generation 10%

4th generation 10%

5th generation 10%

6th generation 8%

7th generation 8%

8th generation 8%

9th generation 8%

10th generation 8%

11th generation 5%

12th generation 5%

13th generation 5%

14th generation 5%

15th generation 5%

✅Daily Top Referrer Pool 3% of ALL Deposits set aside in pool; every 24-hour 10% of the pool is shared among top 4 sponsors in volume

✅Minimum and maximum deposit limits

✅1st cycle, minimum deposit 100 TRX no maximum

✅2nd cycle, equal or greater than previous cycle

✅3rd cycle, equal or greater than previous cycle

✅4th cycle and beyond, equal or greater than previous cycle

Official Video and PDF is available in website.

IMPORTANT NOTES

*TRON3X is a community-based project, 100% decentralized, P2P transactions through Smart Contract.

*Each Deposit Cycle is 300%

*When 300% is received, a new deposit must be made to continue earning / receiving from any of the 4 ways.

*Minimum entry is 100TRX, open to all participants, no restrictions.

* Get connected and start the new way of business.

https://tron3x.io/#ref=TSH5FAivf3e6ZfBbVpjUavYdmnMQuuyi1a

1. Download and install TRONWALLET

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tronwallet2

Telegram: @Tron3xofficial
The long wait is over! SMARTS is getting Smarter.
By: Smarts Finance
Tags: Smart Contracts, Defi, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Mainnet

The long wait is over! SMARTS is getting Smarter.

Our smart contract has been successfully ported from the test net to the Ethereum main net. If you would agree with me, The rate of rug pulling and exit scams in the Defi ecosystem is alarming. To negate this singular factor which has been a major obstacle for investors to onboard the bandwagon of new Defi projects, our first shot towards the direction of decentralization is to own a multi-sig wallet with known influencers in the space who have no primary connection with the project. We are currently in communication with several influencers.

Smarts is a unique and decentralized project, and we are very scrupulous concerning the influencer we bring onboard. As this is a vital part of the project at large. To flow with the tides of time, we decided to own a multi-sig wallet with our devs for the sole purpose of facilitating our smart contract deployment to be in line with the established roadmap. We are adopting the Gnosis multi-sig wallet code which permits additions of permissions. We will restrict this addition to a limit and the contract code of the wallet will be provided to the community to verify its parameters before the sale commencement.

An announcement will be made once an agreement has been straightened out with external parties. Since Smarts is proposed to utilize a community-centric approach for governance, it would definitely be a plus if our potential investors can suggest known influencers so they can be added to our scout list.

A delay in the smart contract deployment has been one of the primary factors stalling this project from moving at the speed of light. So expects a rapid development and frequent updates from us.

Contract Address:

https://etherscan.io/token/0x87b46664fec8d72bd651468b96f72c51405eceb7

Multisig Address (https://wallet.gnosis.pm):

https://etherscan.io/address/0x07b9cafB1a7fC12Bb258D0F3985d1abaf3127b8f

Github:

https://github.com/SmartsFinance/smart-contracts

Why should you trust our smart contract?

“Code is law” since our smart contract is built on the Ethereum blockchain, it is completely immutable, distributed, decentralized, and trustless.

Our team of developers has vast experience in building and developing DeFi products and in the blockchain space in general. Our Smarts contract is built using the latest standards with the best security practice.

It is liable for both internal and external security audits to confirm its durability and authenticity.

Despite all the safety measures and practices, it is important to know that no software component is 100% perfect and are liable to bugs and other uncertainties.

We employ you to interact with them with the utmost care.

There would be a max supply of 1,000,000 SMAT and a total supply of 400,000. 12% of the maximum supply would be available for sales. More details on this will be provided in the coming updates.

Stay tuned.
Global Blockchain Pioneers on The Most Suprising Event of 2020
Tags: Smart Contracts, 2020, Bitcoin, Crypto, Blockchain

As the world entered economic shutdown and social distancing in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, crypto industry is largely unaffected as most blockchain projects have been operating in a distributed manner. Quantitative easing and other inflationary monetary policies implemented by central governments set a welcoming stage for crypto currencies that offer limited supply and is transparent and easily verifiable. Individuals and institutionals are now re-evaluating Bitcoin and are buying them up. From on-chain data analysis, we see a growing number of addresses owning Bitcoin and whale accounts are also on the rise.

2020 is a year full of surprises. We witness the rise of DeFi, and an endless wave of mainstream adoption. Global cryptocurrency market cap has doubled this year, going from $200 billion to over $400 billion. As we are half way through the last quarter of this year, we reached out to long time participants in the blockchain industry to get their opinions on the most suprising event in 2020.
Stratis SRC-20 Token Issuance Contract
Tags: Smart Contracts, Dotnet, Microsoft, Csharp, Blockchain

We are pleased to announce that the SRC-20 Standard Token Issuance contract has been voted into the whitelist by the community operated masternodes and is now deployable on the Cirrus Sidechain. This enables anyone to deploy their own token on the Cirrus Sidechain that can then be utilised to meet many different use-cases.

Deploying your own token from within Cirrus Core is simply achieved via the Smart Contracts tab within the wallet.

Enter the ByteCode of the approved contract, located on the merged pull request and supply the token parameters to define the Token Supply, Token Name and Token Ticker.

Select Create Contract and you have successfully deployed your own SRC20 Token on the Cirrus Sidechain.

More information regarding the deployment of a token and guidance for Smart Contract developers can be found in the below document.

Stratis Smart Contracts Developer Guide

Cirrus Core 2.0 will also be released in the coming weeks, bringing one-click token issuance and full token management allowing you to manage issued tokens with ease.
Oracles: Making Smart Contracts a Dream Come True (Part 2)
Tags: Blockchain Technology, Smart Contracts, Oracle, Tokenization, Blockchain

In the previous article, we have given you a general overview of oracles and their integral role in the execution of smart contracts. Today, this article will delve into the different types of oracles available, and how some like Konrad have sought to use it to its best potential.

First, Let’s Do a Quick Recap.

Oracles are pools of reliable data gleaned from the offchain world that are supplied to smart contracts present in the blockchain. They are a middle-men of some sorts, transmuting information between the smart contracts of the virtual world and information sources in the real world. Furthermore, they can also function as a balancing mechanism to spread out benefit across the chain.

So, What Are The Various Types of Oracles Available?

Oracles are designed to facilitate the execution of smart contracts. Hence, they are assorted into five categories according to their functions in the blockchain. They are namely software oracles, hardware oracles, inbound oracles, outbound oracles and consensus based oracles.

Let’s apply the use of oracle to a real case scenario. Take for instance the upcoming asset tokenization platform, Konrad. Konrad specialises in precious metals and understands the risks of investment when it comes to such volatile assets. Hence, Konrad has designed a risk management system based on smart contracts called by the oracle machine.

Konrad’s Smart Risk Management System

The oracle machine as seen in the diagram above can be conceived as a Turing machine that is connected to an oracle. The oracle will supply information from the real world into the Turing machine which will compute and analyze the risks involved in the investment of the precious metal assets listed on the platform. These risks will then be communicated to the library of smart contracts on Konrad in order to assist in the valuation of any particular asset.

Conclusion?

As quoted by Fabric Ventures, “There is no Ctrl+Z in the blockchain world”. A smart contract is designed to receive input from the real world, but without the aid of oracles connecting the real world to the virtual, every execution by the smart contract would be a second away from a catastrophe.

To find out more about Konrad, check out its socials at:

Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5148889.0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KonradPlatform/

Medium: https://medium.com/@konradholdings/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Konrad_Official/

Telegram: https://t.me/konrad_En

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KonradHolding

Website: https://www.konrad.holdings/

Weibo: https://www.weibo.com/7041318945/profile?topnav=1&wvr=6&is_all=1
Distributed games
By: Wulfgang Wang
Tags: Games, Smart Contracts, Blockchain

A distributed game based on permission-less blockchains relies not on a central server to decide, upon the data generated during the game’s unfolding, who wins and how to allocate the pot. Instead, smart contracts takes the responsibility to do all the necessary calculation.

The catch is: players interacts with the smart contract throughout the game, while blockchain is not good at providing responsive user experience.

End result: long-lasting and heavy interactive games like poker, mahjong will face hiccups during the course of the game and sometimes make the player wait for long before it moves on. Because such games can only move on with each player’s action become final, hence requiring a finality being reached on the blockchain.

2 major culprits:

limited presence of the nodes worldwide, resulting in high latency between the player and the smart contract; real TPS of given permission-less blockchains is not as high as touted.

A consortium-based blockchain, by using the most efficient consensus mechanism, can’t scale up to a worldwide scale as the major permission-less blockchains do without compromising the TPS efficiency.

A dilemma?
Introduction To Sophia(Online Session) — Developer Study Jæm(Ekiti State)
By: Ækiti Æmbassy
Tags: Smart Contracts, Sophia, Aeternity, YouTube, Aekiti

As promised last week, the first online session of the Developers Study Jæm (Ekiti) online series for our developers online began with an Introduction To Sophia.

Sophia is customized for smart contracts, which can be published to æternity BlockChain.

During the online session, Sophia was introduced by giving an overview of how to write a SmartContract using FireEditor; an example of the "Book library" was sighted to help the developers grasp a better understanding of what the series is all about.

We created a SmartContract to save and retrieve books in a library. We started by creating a contract and named it “BookLibrary”, then went on to create a record “bookInfo” to collect all the book information(title, ISBN and date of books).

We moved forward by creating our state record where we mapped each book to an address that served as the users’ address, we further created the init function which initialized the SmartContract and also gets the variables at the initialized state.

Then we created the function to get all books stored in the library added by a user and also created a function to add a book to the library.

The session was prerecorded and the video was uploaded on YouTube. Every developer willing and ready to learn is thereby encouraged to watch it anytime they are free and at their own comfort.
Did the ELITE project RUG - proof ‽
Tags: Fantom, Smart Contracts, Sushiswap, Transparency, Cryptocurrency

Since genesis, there used to be a wallet, controlled by the dev, that contained 398.365 ELITE tokens.. this was a scary thing to many who saw this as a skewed concentration and a route to rug the project!

Some history and back stories!

When ELITE was created, at first 133.7 ELITE was added to the Liquidity Pool at SpookySwap. It was followed by 133.7 ELITE added at SushiSwap as well. The Liquidity tokens received from these were burnt (See: Spooky LP Burn & Sushi LP Burn).

The plan ahead was to add 133.7 ELITE more at SpiritSwap, StreetSwap (HyperJ) and at Waka, each. Sooner than later, the community decided to concentrate the Liquidity at a single DEX, and doing so without bringing more ELITE into circulation. As a result, these 403 ELITE (398 after burning 5) got left unlisted, ducking inside a lone wallet since May.

Fast-forward to July ‘21

Today, ftm.guru (ELITE) offers multiple services to its community, including the “Farm-Maker”, “FantomMarketCap” and lots of other small tools.

Despite all the efforts and working products, the project was valued at a mere $25,000-30,000 market cap.

Diving Deeper into Distribution Dilemma

Today, we talked to a few of our community members and asked them what could be keeping our prices down. A lot of answers revolves around early buyers but there was another point of view we hadn’t notice so far: Supply distribution!

Many saw the openly controlled dev wallet holding a big chunk of the supply with its 398.365 ELITE to be a problem. A common theme that emerged was that people don’t prefer ape-ing into tokens with such skewed distributions.

These funds had been held in the dev-address to fulfill future plans that could demand equity from the ftm.guru ecosytem. Thus, a simple burn wouldn’t solve this problem.

The solution

We deployed our very own custom implementation of a timelock contract and sent it the 385 (and gave Sam4x 13.37 ELITE!).

It by default locks ELITE tokens against withdraws for 13 days 3 hours and 7 minutes.

But why lock ELITEs for such a small duration?

The answer is that this contract is special. It is a tailored smart contract that allows anyone to extend the duration of timelock by 13 days 3 hours and 7 minutes, as many times they wish for.

Ooh! Interesting?

Being publicly extensible, our Chefs398 SC makes sure that if there’s anyone who is uncomfortable with unlocked tokens, they can permissionlessly call the Re-Lock function and have the lockup extended for 2 more weeks!
What are DeFi Smart Contracts?
Tags: Lawyers, Smart Contracts, Defi, Cryptocurrency, Trust

Smart Contracts are the lawyers of the blockchain world! They are self-executing contracts that exist on the blockchain network. They allow for a specific transaction to take place between a buyer and a seller without either party having to know or trust each other. The terms of the transaction which are agreed to by both the buyer and seller are coded into the smart contract and ensures that the transaction is transparent and traceable. If either end of the contract is not held up, the contract will not go through.

How Smart Contracts Work. Taken from https://blockgeeks.com/ 07/23/21

Smart Contracts allow for blockchains to run without the need for a central authority or external enforcement system. Due to the nature of transactions on the blockchain it is also irreversible.

Regulators of the DeFi Network can view the Smart Contracts that are being used for a better sense of how market forces are playing out in the network without the people in the deal having to reveal their anonymity.

BCharity uses Smart Contracts to confirm transactions that happen on our DeFi Website. This is just one of the many DeFi features we use to keep our users safe and our activities transparent.

Check out BCharity’s DeFi farms: https://bcharityecssen.netlify.app/
HashEx ABI encoder Read Me and code are available publicly.
By: Polly Traore
Tags: Hashex, Abi Encoder, Smart Contracts, News

HashEx has just published ReadMe and the code for its ABI encoder tool.

All the necessary information on how to use the ABI encoder, and data to better understand the system is available on GitHub https://github.com/HashEx/abiencoder

Description

HashEx offers a free ABI decoder online service that allows you to encode your Solidity contract’s functions and constructor arguments.

ABI itself is the description of the code interface. It’s a way for the contracts to interact within an ecosystem as well as contract-to-contract.

Smart contract ABI parsing is required for verifying the contract on Etherscan or making a transaction to call a method, for example for a Timelock contract. For most actions regarding this code, you would require a special tool, and the arguments have to be encoded in a specific way. HashEx tool does it automatically, is free, and doesn’t involve downloading any extra applications.

Code itself is used in the byte format, so it’s harder to decode it correctly. For easy interactions with said code, HashEx has created its ABI decoder. An additional tool allows you to manually enter the values for the parameters.

Supported types

•uint8..256

• uint[]8..256

• bytes8..32

• bytes[]8..32

•address

•address[]

•string

•bool

•bool[]

Feel free to open PR to add new types.

How to use

Manually enter

Enter signature of function (Example: transferFrom(adress, uint) ) manually with selecting "your function" option or use the "constructor" option. Add arguments, select the correct types. Fill the arguments. Encoded data will appear in the text area under the function. Click “Copy” button and paste it where ever you want.

Using ABI autoparse

Enter your contract ABI into the text field and click “Parse” button. Select the function or constructor from the parsed list. Fill the arguments. Encoded data will appear in the text area under the function. Click “Copy” button and paste it where ever you want.

How to run

Install dependencies

npm install or yarn

Start project

npm start or yarn start

…and open http://localhost:3000 in your web browser.

Contributing

The site is powered by CRA(Create React App) using React.js and ethereumjs-abi.

Fork the repo on GitHub Clone the project to your own machine Commit changes to your own branch Push your work back up to your fork Submit a Pull request so that we can review your changes

NOTE: Be sure to merge the latest from “upstream” before making a pull request!

Licenses

MIT
Function Island: Ok, it’s happening! Everyone stay calm! (Ep. 5)
By: Function Island
Tags: Solidity, Dapps, Bsc, Crypto, Smart Contract

B1VS Hourglass is the latest expansion and project of Function Island, a project aiming to provide long-lasting, lively smart contracts and Dapps on multiple chains, in a customised and unique fashion. Anyone can join Function Island — those who join the relevant official communities are known as “Islanders”, led by the “Island Chiefs” and the almighty MrFUNCT1ON.

👋 Hello, Islanders!

Yes, you read that correctly! Soon, the all-new “B1VS Hourglass” Dapp is coming to Function Island, deployed on Binance Smart Chain! 🎉

Development and testing is underway as you read this — the team have been working hard in the background, quite heavily on this one! More details will be published and shared closer to the release date — for now though, we think it’s a good idea to get prepared for the new Dapp, should you choose to participate! 💪🏽

The Hourglass smart contract mints “B1VS” on deposit of BNB, and burns “B1VS” when it’s sold, simultaneously distributing a portion of deposits and withdrawals of BNB between all “B1VS” holders. The smart contract incrementally increases the price every time B1VS is bought, and slightly decreases the price every time B1VS is sold.

But wait — there’s more! If you’ve been around crypto for a while now, you’re probably telling yourself you’ve seen this all before — and you’d be right… BUT, Function Island isn’t just bringing an Hourglass to BSC — Alongside the Hourglass is “Gauntlet Mode”! 💪🚀💸

Gauntlet Mode is a special smart contract which enables anyone to:

— Create a Gauntlet and set a number of days until it “unlocks”

— Deposit BNB into it, which actually buys B1VS and locks them inside!

— Earn dividends (and reinvest or withdraw them) with their Gauntlet!

The only things you cannot do until the time is up is sell or transfer the B1VS within — those are held on tight by that iron grip you created! 🤑⛈

➡️ iPhone: TokenPocket is a great choice of wallet application — Non custodial, no KYC, multi-chain, multi-coin, mobile and user friendly. 💪✅

➡️ Android: Much the same — TokenPocket is a good option!

➡️ Desktop: Use Metamask with the RPC settings as linked for the smart chain, or the official Binance wallet extension (available for Firefox and Chrome-based browsers).

☝️ It is not compulsory to use Metamask or TokenPocket — if you have your own method to connect to Binance Smart Chain, feel free to use that. Do be aware though, we as the Function Island Team cannot help you with your wallet-specific issues.

🏆 Download TokenPocket (iOS / Android) : link

🦊 Download Metamask: link

🔗 Connect Metamask to Binance Smart Chain: link

❤️ To be clear, we are still working heavily on D1VS and TRON — this post is a special one, because it’s also the first post of the project expanding to a second blockchain! The island is getting bigger! 🎉🚀

🙏🏽 Thank you all for your continued support of the Function Island project!

Regards,

MrFunction, The Admin Team and the VIP Group
Functional Data Mappers
By: Denis Brandi
Tags: Android, Mapping, Functional Programming, Kotlin, Repository Pattern

Let’s now take some real data mappers and convert them using the same approach.

So let’s say these are the models to map:

Domain Models

DTOs

The OOP way

This is how I would map the above network DTOs into the Domain Models using a standard OOP approach:

OOP

The FP way

And this would be the FP translation:

FP

The Repository

Let’s now have a look at this simple AlbumRepository:

Repository with mapper interface

You can see that albumDataMapper is doing a great job in abstracting the mapping logic so now we should expect minimum changes:

Repository with mapper function

Almost the same, isn’t it? 😃

If you check the sample project you’ll see that the unit tests look similar as well.

The Injection

If you look at the snippets above, none of the functions has this signature:

fun mapAlbumDTO(networkAlbum: NetworkAlbum): Album

and all we have is:

fun mapAlbumDto(

input: NetworkAlbum,

mapSongList: (List<NetworkSong>?) -> List<Song>

): Album

We don’t want the Repository to deal with the explicit dependencies of the mapAlbumDto function so this is where the injection comes into play (the workaround I talked about before).

For simplicity, I’ll just use a simple Factory that creates an instance of the Repository (in your project you can replicate the same thing using the tool you prefer: Dagger, Koin, manual DI…).

Factory for the OOP version

Factory for repository with OOP Data Mappers

Factory for the FP version

Factory for repository with FP Data Mappers

As you can see the second Factory is composing all the small functions for generating the final function required by the Repository, this way the Repository stays clean.

The Repository for the OOP version looks leaner than the one for the FP version (this is a downside of my approach) but I don’t think it is a big deal considering that this is just a Factory and all the boilerplate we removed.
Europe According to Coronavirus
By: Yanko Tsvetkov
Tags: Political Humor, Mapping, Maps, Political Satire, European Union

Making sense of the information mess during the COVID-19 pandemic in good old disunited Europe

The Atlas of Prejudice started in the midsts of a Pan-European crisis back in January 2009, when Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine and left half of the continent freezing in the middle of winter.

It was a different world back then. Russia and the West were BFFs. George Bush and Vladimir Putin used to sip Pepsi in front of the fireplace at Camp David, while Condoleezza Rice flipped pancakes in the kitchen.

I lived in Bulgaria, one of worst affected countries, since it was heavily reliant on Russian gas. At the time, speaking about politics couldn’t get you laid or elevate you into an influencer, so most of my friends across Europe had no idea what the fuss was all about. To help them make sense of my predicament, I drew a little funny map to illustrate the geopolitics behind the situation.

Fast forward eleven years and the world looks unrecognizable. Politics permeates every aspect of our lives—from identity and food to shopping and pornography. Everybody has an opinion about everything and that opinion is usually set in stone, adorned with beautifully chiseled CAPITALS!!! The word dialogue has almost lost its meaning because the only thing we’re interested in is our own precious voices.

But just when we thought things couldn’t get any better, a pandemic worthy of a medieval apocalyptic book suddenly crashed on the shores of our continent.

As the COVID-19 tsunami devastated Southern Europe, people rushed online in search for data, so they could instantly gratify their thirst for easy explanations, preferably confirming long-held prejudices. My Facebook feed was clogged with questions. Are Italians dirty? Does Madrid have so many victims because Spaniards are careless and fuck bareback? And is the difference in mortality rate between Germany and Italy a definite proof that the Arian race will inherit the Earth?

Hopefully, the current crisis will change our arrogant attitude towards expert opinion and roll back a decade of misguided entitlement. Because the complexity of the problems we face far outstrips our individual imagination, while the data we’re constantly immersed in is worth nothing without thoughtful analysis.

Meaningful answers require time. But until we figure a way out of this, let’s take a moment to have a laugh. Every crisis, no matter how severe, deserves a satirical map.
Geographic Plotting with Python- Folium
By: Madhu Ramiah
Tags: Mapping, Python3, Folium, Geographic, Data Visualization

I was working on this interesting dataset in Kaggle about Los Angeles Traffic Collisions. This data had details about when the accident occurred, area, zip code, latitude, longitude and many other details as below.

Los Angeles Traffic Collision Data

Since I had the latitude and longitude details I wanted to try to plot it on the map with how many traffic collisions had occurred in each of those positions. So, I created a data frame with the essential details as below.

The size and color were for the respective size and color depending on how many accidents occurred. The folium part was very simple. Installation included the following command. It installs all the underlying packages for you.

pip3 install folium

Below is the code snippet for the folium map. First I created a folium map with just 1 latitude and longitude point and a zoom start level that you want. And then for every row in the pandas data frame you you keep adding the point as a circle marker with a specific size (radius), fill color, opacity (to keep underlying points also visible), popup for any data while hovering on the point. The best part about folium is you can save it as a html page and zoom in/out, share it to anyone and they can play with the data as well.

The map looked like this.

Los Angeles collision map

I also created a heat map on folium. The code snipped looks like the one below. I really liked the heat map because it can also be plotted with the latitude and longitude and was very accurate.

Heat Map for LA traffic collision data

Conclusion

Folium is by far the best geographic mapping tool with python. The coding part is very simple and you can use the latitude & longitude to plot points anywhere in the world. It can also be used to create a wide variety of graphs provided you have a correct geoJSON file mapping. Below are some useful links that can help you start with folium. You can find my code in github.

Thanks for reading through! If you find this blog useful or have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach me out. You can leave your comments below as well.
Mapping the World — Part 4: SOSNet to the Rescue!
By: Vassileios Balntas
Tags: Techseries, Localization, Mapping, Machine Learning, Computer Vision

Our previous blog post introduced Apophis, our lightning-fast non-linear optimization library that is used for solving large-scale problems commonly found in Structure-from-Motion (SfM). One of the core steps of SfM is inferring the relative camera motion between two frames, which is done with a technique called “Image Matching”. To perform image matching at the scale and quality that is required for our Vision Engine, we had to create a more robust matching method, without sacrificing computational efficiency.

In this post, we introduce SOSNet, which will be presented as an oral at CVPR 2019, and leads to significant improvements compared to the state-of-the-art methods. We built SOSNet by making neural networks go from learning similarities to learning similarities between similarities.

However, before digging into SOSNet and taking a look at how vastly it improves the accuracy of reconstructed 3D maps, it is useful to describe the problem of image matching.

Recovering relative camera motion

For humans, it is relatively easy to estimate how a camera moved between two images. Given the example images below, imagine that we are standing in a way that we observe scene A. To get to scene B, we should take a few steps to the left and then rotate our head right. On the other hand, to go from scene A to C we need to move right and then tilt our head left.

Recovering the relative camera motion between two images allows us to build large scale 3D maps of the world.

Recovering relative camera motion from image matching

In the pixel space where cameras live, we need to identify a set of point-to-point correspondences, in order to recover relative camera motion between two images. This was originally described in a 1981 article published in Nature from Christopher Longuet-Higgins. In particular, through the magic of two-view geometry, we can estimate a mathematical representation of the camera motion, which is known as the Essential Matrix.

Fun fact: One of Christopher Longuet-Higgins’ PhD students is Geoffrey Hinton, who later went on to recieve the Turing Award for his contibutions on neural networks that helped spawn the “deep learning era” in computer vision. It’s this same era of deep learning that led to our SOSNet method.

We can recover the relative camera motion between two images, by finding lots of correspondences between specific areas on the left image, with the “matching” areas of the right image. This is the process that is called “image matching”.

In theory, the well known eight-point algorithm, requires just 8 point-to-point correspondences between the two images to recover the relative camera pose. In practice, however, things are not that ideal.

The algorithm assumes that the matching process is done without errors, something that is not realistic. Thus, a common practice is to find as many correspondences as possible, which can then be used to recover the relative camera pose. The classical pipeline can be summarised as: Detect, Describe & Match.

Detect, Describe & Match
The SpaceNet 7 Multi-Temporal Urban Development Challenge: Dataset Release
By: Adam Van Etten
Tags: Data Science, Open Source, Mapping, Machine Learning, Computer Vision

Preface: SpaceNet LLC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating open source, artificial intelligence applied research for geospatial applications, specifically foundational mapping (i.e., building footprint & road network detection). SpaceNet is run in collaboration by co-founder and managing partner CosmiQ Works, co-founder and co-chair Maxar Technologies, and our partners including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Capella Space, Topcoder, IEEE GRSS, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Planet.

The SpaceNet partners are proud to announce the release of the SpaceNet 7 dataset. The SpaceNet 7 Multi-Temporal Urban Development Challenge dataset features a deep temporal stack of imagery and labels in over 100 locations across all six inhabited continents. Up-to-date high-fidelity maps are crucial for many applications (such as disaster response or humanitarian efforts, discussed in great detail in our previous blog), and this dataset will aid efforts to improve automated mapping and overhead change detection methods.

This is the first time that SpaceNet has used Planet imagery at ~4 meter resolution, as well as the first time that the temporal dimension will be explicitly incorporated into a challenge. The selected locations boast significant change over the two year data collection timeline. The dynamic nature of the data cubes permits tracking of urban development, specifically: building footprint evolution as well as address propagation. In the sections below we discuss the many facets of this unique open source dataset, distributed under a permissive CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

1. Geographic Coverage

The SpaceNet 7 dataset contains ~100 locations, spread out across the globe. Many of the locations were selected to highlight signifiant change, though some were selected to overlap with previous SpaceNet locales, and some were selected due to geopolitical interest. 60 of the data cubes are released as training examples (with both imagery and attendant labels), and 20 are released as test_public examples (imagery only). The remainder of the data cubes are reserved for final testing purposes. Figure 1 links to an interactive map that allows interested readers to explore the dataset locations.
An overview of mapping techniques used in UX Design Process
By: Anna Vasyukova
Tags: Mapping, UX, UX Research, UX Design

Mapping is one of the most effective ways of presenting your findings and insights to your team and stakeholders.

UX mapping is a process that narrows the gap between users’ or customers’ needs and the product. It’s important to capture the whole picture before you start building or even designing.

Maps are great tools to

present our findings and insights in one place align the team and stakeholders around the problem space see the knowledge gaps and unknowns

UX designers have a wide range of types of mapping they use, each with different goals and different processes.

Ecosystem Maps

UX practitioners use ecosystem maps to understand the objects in a system and account for all key interactions that will be affected by adding a new product or service. Ecosystem maps capture all people, products, and services within the problem space.

A UX ecosystem is a set of interdependent relationships that emerge between components within an information environment. — Dave Jones, Design for a Thriving UX Ecosystem,

The components outlined by Dave Jones include the people, their goals and practices, the digital and analog technologies that are used by these people to connect and share information, and the information that is shared. Ideally, an ecosystem map should also include known pain points at all levels (who, what, when, where, and how).

Nobody works alone, and UX designers need to learn more about the relationships users maintain with other people and technologies. An ecosystem map can help you identify new relationships that allow you to create and grow your products more effectively.

Benefits of Ecosystem maps

They give us the big picture

They help us anticipate problems and needs the client may not see.

They help us uncover important details the client didn’t mention.

They help us clarify our understanding so we don’t make any wrong

They give us the basics for creating context scenarios and user personas

An ecosystem map for an event-planning application.

More resources on ecosystem maps:

https://www.uxbooth.com/, https://uxmag.com/, https://spin.atomicobject.com/
Mapping user rights in the evolving EU copyright framework
By: Paul Keller
Tags: English, Mapping, Copyright, User Rights, European Union

In a little less than a month from now, on the 7th of June 2021 the new Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive, that was adopted in April 2019 after much controversy will come into effect across the 27 EU Member States. While the directive is primarily known for its problematic provisions, such as the new rules requiring online content sharing platforms to install upload filters for copyrighted works (Article 17 of the Directive) and a new press publishers right (Article 15), it also includes a number of provisions that strengthen user rights in the EU Member States. Specifically the EU directive introduces a number of new, mandatory exceptions to copyright that will need to be implemented by all EU Member States:

These five mandatory exceptions supplement the existing list of 21 mostly optional exceptions from the 2001 Copyright in the Information Society Directive and the 2012 Orphan Works Directive, that provide the basis for the complicated patchwork of user rights in the European Union.

In 2016 Kennisland (the then host organisation of CC-Netherlands) launched the website wwww.copyrightexceptions.eu that aimed to provide an overview of the implementation (or lack thereof) of the EU copyright exceptions in the various Member States.

In 2020 the Creative Commons Global Network Copyright Platform Activity Fund and Wikimedia Italy provided grants to rebuild www.copyrightexceptions.eu so that the platform will also be able to provide information on the new copyright exceptions introduced by the DSM Directive that will come into effect this summer.
The Great Division
Tags: Strategy, Mapping

What happens in the corporate world post covid?

The isolation economy caused by covid forced us to change. It forced us to accept pre-existing technology that we had resisted e.g. remote working, zoom calls and online collaboration became a necessity.

As we overcame our inertia to change then this in turn allowed for new possibilities as the the adoption of more industrialised technology enables new wonders to appear. These basic patterns of the evolution of technology, inertia, forcing function and times of peace, war and wonder are staple parts of the mapping diet. Nothing about this isolation economy induced by COVID was surprising which is why we were so able to accurately predict its general effects.

Nothing should surprise us about what will happen next. As we move into the post isolation economy and pressure of the forcing function that is COVID is reduced then some companies that have adapted fully will appear to accelerate compared to those that will attempt to return to old patterns of work driven by issues such as power and status between the physical and virtual world. That top floor office, that expensively furnished boardroom will turn out to be a curse.

We should see a bifurcation of society with some companies accelerating far ahead of the pack. This will be compounded by a new time of wonder as those accelerating companies spur creation of new services, new practices and the resultant confusion of terms this creates as we explore the uncharted but adjacent possibles.

For many, as they slam on the brakes by returning to the office, they will face a future of increasing confusion, uncertainty caused by a bewildering array of terms and competitors that seem so far ahead that they are almost magical. For others, they will barely notice the change as they accelerate far beyond others by simply continuing with the adaptations that they have already started.

Acceleration is relative.

The single most important factor for any company in this time will be the imagination and willingness of executives to adapt to the change. Many companies will face a grim future as executives exchange the adaptability that was forced upon them for the warm comfort of an expensively furnished top floor office. Bifurcation and the twin forces of creation and destruction (known unimaginatively as creative destruction) will wreak their havoc as they have done so, many times in the past.

This will be a time of the great division, between the haves and the have nots, between varying rates of speed in the corporate world. Don’t be so willing to rush to return to the office, act in haste and you’ll repent at leisure.
Introducing Custom POIs. Map walk and transit accessibility for…
By: Nikitas Magel
Tags: Mapping, Urban Planning, Product, Cities, GIS

Mapping accessibility is a hallmark feature of UrbanFootprint. Whether for existing conditions reporting or future scenario planning, UrbanFootprint’s built-in ​Analysis Modules​ provide a rapid assessment of walk and transit accessibility to a variety of destination categories: employment sites, schools, hospitals, parks, and transit stops. Today, we’re thrilled to announce a new feature that expands this capability to include ​any destination of your choice​. With ​Custom POIs​, you can now map and measure accessibility to any single point or subset of locations, whether in a preloaded point dataset in UrbanFootprint’s expansive ​Data Library​ or in a new dataset you upload yourself.

Custom POIs open up an exciting range of new use cases — from choosing the best location for additional emergency facilities, such as heat-wave cooling centers or community resilience centers, to measuring equitable access to supermarkets and other essential businesses. Let’s take a closer look at a few examples.

Siting a Critical Emergency Facility

In response to compounding public health crises — COVID-19 and natural disasters exacerbated by climate change (heat waves, wildfires, flooding, etc.) — many state and local agencies are looking to identify gaps in access to aid and emergency facilities (such as cooling centers or community resilience centers). With UrbanFootprint Custom POIs, public agencies can quickly measure access to existing sites and compare results for potential new sites.