MODELING SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONDITIONS IN A VOXEL DATABASE

• US 20110202326A1
• Filed: 02/17/2010
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: SALEMANN, LEO
• Application Number:
  US12/707,158
• Publication Number:
  US 20110202326A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A set of digital products of a real-world volumetric space comprising a population of humans can be received. The digital products can be analyzed to determine a set of social characteristics and cultural conditions for the population. The determined social characteristics and cultural conditions can be stored in a voxel database. The social characteristics and cultural characteristics can be recorded with geospatial metrics for the real-world volumetric space in which they occurred. A computer model can be generated for a geospatially bound simulation space from the voxel database data. The computer model can include the social characteristics and cultural characteristics of the geospatially bound simulation space. The computer model can be used by a simulation device to model behavior of a simulated culturally linked population corresponding to the population for the real-world volumetric space.

Claims

1. A voxel database representing a volumetric storage space comprising a set of unique volumetric storage units called voxels, wherein data elements are stored to the voxels, wherein a spatial position of the data elements within the volumetric storage space is defined at least in part by which of the voxels the data elements are stored to, wherein said data elements comprise a plurality of different social characteristics or different cultural conditions, each spatially positioned within a sub-volume of the volumetric storage space defined by the voxels to which the different social characteristics or different cultural conditions are stored.

2. The voxel database of claim 1, wherein the data elements of the volumetric storage space when stored in the voxel database are referenced against voxels and are not directly referenced against other defined objects present in the volumetric storage space.

3. The voxel database of claim 1, wherein said data elements comprise the plurality of different social characteristics, wherein different ones of said different social characteristics apply to an appearance, attire, and behavior of humans present in the corresponding sub-volume of the volumetric storage space.

4. The voxel database of claim 1, wherein the data elements comprise the plurality of different cultural conditions, wherein different ones of said different cultural conditions apply to an architecture of physical structures, political structures, and technology infrastructures in the corresponding sub-volume of the volumetric storage space.

5. A method for modeling population behavior comprising:

receiving spatially referenced information of a sub-volume of real-world volumetric space comprising a population of humans;

analyzing the spatially referenced information to determine a set of social characteristics and cultural conditions for the sub-volume; and

storing the determined social characteristics and cultural conditions in a voxel database, said voxel database representing a volumetric storage space comprising a set of unique volumetric storage units called voxels, wherein data elements are stored against specific ones of the voxels, wherein a spatial position of the data elements within the volumetric storage space is defined at least in part by which of the voxels the data elements are stored against, wherein the social characteristics and cultural conditions are stored as data elements in voxels, where specific ones of the voxels corresponding to volumetric units of the sub-volume.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a sub-volume of simulation space;

extracting data elements from a sub-volume of the volumetric storage space that corresponds to the sub-volume of simulation space;

applying the social characteristics and cultural conditions of the sub-volume of the volumetric storage space to the sub-volume of simulation space; and

permitting a user to interact with a computer controlled population in the sub-volume of the simulation space via an interactive user interface, wherein the interactions are influenced by the social characteristics and cultural conditions.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

generating a computer model for a geospatially bound simulation space using social characteristics and cultural conditions of a sub-volume of the volumetric storage space, where the sub-volume corresponds to the geospatially bound simulation space, wherein the computer model is able used by a simulation device to model social characteristics and cultural conditions of a portion of the real-world volumetric space and the population of humans contained therein, wherein the portion of the real-world volumetric space corresponds to the sub-volume of the volumetric storage space.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the social characteristics and cultural conditions are further recorded within the voxel database with temporal attributes for a real-world time associated with a time at which the corresponding spatially referenced information was accurate.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining from social characteristic data stored in the voxel database and associated with a first time, a volumetric subspace for a population having a values for the social characteristic data falling within a defined range at a defined time, wherein the volumetric subspace is a continuous volume that to volumetric units of the simulation space; and

visually presenting a representation of the volumetric subspace within the simulation space of a simulation user interface along with an indication that the volumetric subspace visually represents a geospatial region comprising a human population predominantly possessing a defined range of social characteristics at the defined time.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining boundaries of a different volumetric subspace corresponding to a different time by interpolating boundaries of the different volumetric space from the volumetric subspace associated with the defined time, and another volumetric space derived from data elements of the voxel database; and

visually presenting a representation of the different volumetric subspace within a simulation space of the simulation user interface along with an indication that the different volumetric subspace visually represents a geospatial region comprising a human population predominantly possessing a defined range of social characteristics at the different defined time.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

defining a volumetric simulation space of a simulator comprising a simulated population;

extracting social characteristics and cultural conditions for the simulated population from the voxel database;

presenting within a user interface a defined set of social characteristics, a set of cultural conditions, and region boundary defining options, which are based on the social characteristics and cultural conditions and which are each adjustable based upon user input received via the user interface, wherein at least one value threshold is established for the social characteristics to determine if a given sub-region is affected by the social characteristics;

determining at least one sub-region of the bound geospatial region that satisfies the value threshold of the social characteristic set given the cultural conditions at a defined time; and

presenting a map of a bound region of the volumetric simulation space within the user interface, wherein the bound region is in accordance with the region boundary defining options, visually showing each determined sub-region in a visually distinguishable way to indicate the presence of the social characteristic satisfying the value threshold at the defined time.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

within a feature table, establishing a plurality of feature records in a plurality of feature tables, wherein each of the feature records comprises a unique feature identifier, a feature type, and a plurality of feature attributes, wherein a feature corresponds to a real world object, and wherein the feature attributes of the feature table are specific attributes for the real world objects;

within a shape table, establishing a plurality of shape records, wherein each of the shape records comprises a unique shape identifier, a shape type, a plurality of shape attributes, and a foreign key to a feature identifier, wherein types of shapes are primitive shapes that comprise a box, a cylinder, a sphere, and a cone, wherein a one-to-many relationship exists between features and shapes, wherein each record of the voxel table comprises a foreign key to a shape identifier, wherein a one-to-many relationship exists between voxels and primitive shapes;

querying said voxel database to generate the response set of voxels and feature and shape attribute values corresponding to the set of voxels; and

providing the response set to a simulator having a user interface for a simulated three dimensional volume of space that corresponds to said defined volume of voxel space, wherein the simulator comprises hardware and computer program products stored on a tangible storage medium and executable upon said hardware.

13. A method for simulating population behavior comprising:

defining a volumetric simulation space of a simulator comprising a simulated population;

extracting social characteristics and cultural conditions for the simulated population from a voxel database, said voxel database representing a volumetric storage space comprising a set of unique volumetric storage units called voxels, wherein data elements are stored against specific ones of the voxels, wherein a spatial position of the data elements within the volumetric storage space is defined at least in part by which of the voxels the data elements are stored against, wherein the social characteristics and cultural conditions are stored as data elements in voxels, wherein the volumetric simulation space corresponds to a sub-volume of the volumetric storage space;

presenting within a user interface a defined set of social characteristics, a set of cultural conditions, and region boundary defining options, which are based on the social characteristics and the cultural conditions from the voxel database and which are each adjustable based upon user input received via the user interface, wherein at least one value threshold is established for the social characteristics to determine if a given sub-region is affected by the social characteristics;

determining at least one sub-region of the bound geospatial region that satisfies the value threshold of the social characteristic set given the cultural conditions at a defined time; and

presenting a map of a bound region of the volumetric simulation space within the user interface, wherein the bound region is in accordance with the region boundary defining options, visually showing each determined sub-region in a visually distinguishable way to indicate the presence of the social characteristic satisfying the value threshold at the defined time.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining at least one different sub-region of the bound geospatial region that satisfies the value threshold of the social characteristic set given the cultural conditions at a different defined time; and

presenting a map of a bound region of the volumetric simulation space within the user interface, wherein the bound region is in accordance with the region boundary defining options, visually showing each determined different sub-region in a visually distinguishable way to indicate the presence of the social characteristic satisfying the value threshold at the different defined time.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving user input specifying the different defined time via the user interface; and

using the specified defined time as the defined time in the determining step.

16. A method for simulating changes of social characteristics of a geospatially located population comprising:

generating spatially referenced information from a real-world volumetric space using automated sensors, wherein the spatially referenced information comprises information from which social characteristics and cultural conditions for human populations and the real-world volumetric space is able to be automatically determined, wherein the social characteristics and cultural conditions are specific to a specific time at which spatially referenced information was captured from the real-world volumetric space, wherein different portions of the spatially referenced information are acquired at different times, which results in the social characteristics and cultural conditions being captured for the real-world volumetric space at different times;

recording the spatially referenced information in a voxel database, said voxel database representing a volumetric storage space comprising a set of unique volumetric storage units called voxels, wherein data elements are stored against specific ones of the voxels, wherein a spatial position of the data elements within the volumetric storage space is defined at least in part by which of the voxels the data elements are stored against, wherein the social characteristics and cultural conditions are stored as data elements in voxels, wherein different data elements are associated with different times; and

generating a simulated space within a simulation user interface based data elements extracted from the voxel database, wherein visual elements of the simulated space are directly rendered from the visual data stored in raster format by a voxel rendering engine of a simulator that includes the simulation user interface, wherein the simulation space depicts a specific time, wherein a delineated sub-region is visually expressed within the simulated space that denotes a social characteristic of a simulated population present in the sub-region at the specific time, wherein the social characteristics data used to generate the simulation space is extracted from the social characteristics of the voxel database for approximately the specific time, wherein a correspondence exists between volumetric units of the real-world volumetric space and voxels, and wherein a correspondence exits between volumetric units of the simulation space and voxels.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining boundaries of a different delineated sub-region corresponding to a different time by interpolating boundaries of the different delineated sub-region from the delineated sub-region associated with the specific time, and another delineated sub-region derived from voxel database data; and

visually presenting a representation of the different delineated sub-region within the simulation space of the simulation user interface along with an indication that the different delineated sub-region visually represents a geospatial region comprising a human population predominantly possessing a defined range of the social characteristics at the different time.

18. A method for determining and presenting social characteristics of a human population in a simulation space of a user interface comprising:

storing a plurality of geospatial records in a voxel database, wherein the records comprise data from a plurality of different sources captured at different times for a real-world volumetric space, wherein the records comprise data for social characteristics of human populations at specific times, wherein each social characteristic is indexed against a set of uniquely defined voxels;

determining from social characteristic data stored in the voxel database and associated with a first time, a first volumetric subspace for a population having a values for the social characteristic data falling within a defined range at the first time, wherein the first volumetric subspace is a continuous volume that directly maps to volumetric units of a simulation subspace, which have a correspondence to voxels of the voxel database;

determining from social characteristic data stored in the voxel database and associated with a second time, a second volumetric subspace for the population having a values for the social characteristic data falling within the defined range at the second time, wherein the second volumetric subspace is a continuous volume that directly maps to regular volumetric units of the simulation subspace, wherein the second volumetric subspace is different from the first volumetric subspace;

receiving a request for presenting a volumetric subspace for the population having values of the social characteristic data within the defined range at a third time;

determining boundaries of a third volumetric subspace by establishing a mathematical relationship between the first, second, and third times and applying the established mathematical relationship to the first, second, and third volumetric space, thereby interpolating boundaries of the third volumetric space from the first volumetric subspace and the second volumetric subspace; and

visually presenting a representation of the third volumetric subspace within a simulation space of a simulation user interface along with an indication that the third volumetric subspace visually represents a geospatial region comprising a human population predominantly possessing the defined range of social characteristics at the third time.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

presenting within the simulation user interface a defined set of social characteristics, a set of cultural conditions, and region boundary defining options, which are based on information of the voxel database and which are each adjustable based upon user input received via the user interface, wherein at least one value threshold is established for the social characteristics to determine if a given sub-region is affected by the social characteristics;

receiving a user input via the simulation user interface;

adjusting the third volumetric subspace in accordance with the user input; and

refreshing the visual presentation of the representation of the third volumetric subspace in accordance with results of the adjusting.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of digital products of a real-world volumetric space comprising a population of humans, wherein said different digital products are generated from said plurality of different sources;

analyzing said digital products to determine a set of social characteristics and cultural conditions for the population; and

storing the determined social characteristics and cultural conditions in the voxel database as the geospatial records, wherein the social characteristics and cultural characteristics are recorded with geospatial metrics for the real-world volumetric space in which they occurred, wherein regular volumetric units of the real-world volumetric space correspond to uniquely identified voxels in the voxel database, wherein the storing of the determined social characteristics and cultural conditions comprises indexing values for the determined social characteristics and cultural conditions against a plurality of records, each of which comprises a unique voxel identifier for one of the voxels to which a corresponding regular volumetric unit relates.

21. A computer program product for determining and presenting social characteristics of a human population in a simulation space of a user interface, the computer program product comprising:

a tangible computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code operable to store a plurality of geospatial records in a voxel database, wherein the records comprise data from a plurality of different sources captured at different times for a real-world volumetric space, wherein the records comprise data for social characteristics of human populations at specific times, wherein each social characteristic is indexed against a set of uniquely defined voxels;

computer usable program code operable to determine from social characteristic data stored in the voxel database and associated with a first time, a first volumetric subspace for a population having a values for the social characteristic data falling within a defined range at the first time, wherein the first volumetric subspace is a continuous volume that directly maps to volumetric units of a simulation subspace, which have a correspondence to voxels of the voxel database;

computer usable program code operable to determine from social characteristic data stored in the voxel database and associated with a second time, a second volumetric subspace for the population having a values for the social characteristic data falling within the defined range at the second time, wherein the second volumetric subspace is a continuous volume that directly maps to regular volumetric units of the simulation subspace, wherein the second volumetric subspace is different from the first volumetric subspace;

computer usable program code operable to receive a request for presenting a volumetric subspace for the population having values of the social characteristic data within the defined range at a third time;

computer usable program code operable to determine boundaries of a third volumetric subspace by establishing a mathematical relationship between the first, second, and third times and applying the established mathematical relationship to the first, second, and third volumetric space, thereby interpolating boundaries of the third volumetric space from the first volumetric subspace and the second volumetric subspace; and

computer usable program code operable to visually present a representation of the third volumetric subspace within a simulation space of a simulation user interface along with an indication that the third volumetric subspace visually represents a geospatial region comprising a human population predominantly possessing the defined range of social characteristics at the third time.

22. A voxel database for storing social characteristics of culturally linked populations within an indexed tangible storage medium, said voxel database comprising:

a plurality of voxel records in a voxel table, where each of the records has a unique voxel identifier, wherein said voxel table is stored in a tangible storage medium;

each voxel record comprising visual attributes of a geometric space, wherein uniquely defined voxels of voxel database is a volume unit of a volumetric storage space, wherein a correspondence exists between voxels and volume units of a real world volumetric space from which geospatial data was directly gathered and encoded within the voxel database;

a plurality of population records, wherein each record has a unique identifier for a set of one or more people, each population record comprises a plurality of different attributes for social characteristics of the corresponding set of people; and

a plurality of time dependent records, each record associating a unique one of the population records to unique set of one or more voxels, at a specific time.