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=JMxjjbIZXCWilersPs1bzRx-3mUwTiQUzlyzWk7v7k4&m=X3wls2GDvLk1yFduTmdZf3nxsiZU-CvJv4Sk1mNKPq8&s=-YEA6fkivNjNGiVwCRTG89Fs4l_Rjfu6bznjtUhNWQs&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=JMxjjbIZXCWilersPs1bzRx-3mUwTiQUzlyzWk7v7k4&m=X3wls2GDvLk1yFduTmdZf3nxsiZU-CvJv4Sk1mNKPq8&s=iJlJexB0fJi-OXh2nKXmyhUH9RJooq0H8SVEdHfT7q0&e=
 

In the past, many museums have collected physical specimens faster than they 
can be prepared and studied, resulting 
in years of backlog 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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