Re: [dinosaur] Main goals in future dinosaur paleontology

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Thu, Apr 13th, 2017 at 1:28 PM, "Yazbeck, Thomas Michael" <yazbeckt@msu.edu> 
wrote:

> What do you mean by 'scanning tech'? You mean like CAT scans? Because that
> has already been providing us reams of data, for sure.


As scanning resolution gets finer, digital data will get a lot bigger. 
Synchrotron X-ray imaging yields
much higher resolutions than CT scans, for instance, and as imaging technology 
allows for larger and
larger specimens to be scanned, the size of the resulting digital data will 
increase dramatically.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.auntminnie.com_index.aspx-3Fsec-3Dser-26sub-3Ddef-26pag-3Ddis-26ItemID-3D96554&d=DwIDAw&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=eLvqRDuAyzRe4kaiscgI0NYCU6XNj5k36YOCA_k2UTc&s=sB2mHxTHc8P0L74OlIcoVdVX70nrErs-XzkHTc0b0oI&e=
  

Not to mention other scanning technologies, like using LiDAR to map trackways. 
With drone-mounted 
rigs becoming possible in recent years (and becoming cheap enough for just 
about anyone to use), larger
and larger areas will be scanned at increasingly higher resolutions.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.gisresources.com_mapping-2Daustralians-2Ddinosaurs-2Dlandscape-2Dusing-2Dlidar-2Dand-2Ddrones&d=DwIDAw&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=eLvqRDuAyzRe4kaiscgI0NYCU6XNj5k36YOCA_k2UTc&s=4oFJa7w4lnC58K3hsZdE1hK2jxGXz8WmZEZAfGv22XQ&e=
 

In the past, many museums have collected physical specimens faster than they 
can be prepared and
studied, resulting in years of backlog material gathering dust. As gathering 
large amounts of digital data
becomes cheaper and easier we might end up with the digital version of that 
scenario, where digital data 
is gathered faster than it can be processed by human operators. Automated data 
mining algorithms might
become necessary to keep up.

-- 
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 Dann Pigdon
 GIS Officer
 Melbourne, Australia
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