Alastair Aitchison is an independent developer, trainer, author and consultant specialising in spatial data reporting and analysis. His work has been used by the House of Lords, the police, political parties and various media agencies.
So you heard about the new spatial functionality in SQL Server 2008, rushed back to your database and added geography and geometry columns to all your tables, eager to create the next Google Earth-beating application. You then click the Execute button and wait.
And wait.
And wait some more. (You get the idea).
Spatial data is a rather unique beast, and designing efficient spatial queries requires specific techniques when compared to other, more traditional types of data.
In this session, we look at how the SQL Server database engine satisfies spatial queries, the theory behind spatial indexes, demonstrate the effects of altering the bounding box, use the spatial system DMVs and stored procedures to your spatial database
SQL Server spatial features have not yet made it into mainstream usage and many developers still ask "But *why* would I use them?". In this session, I hope to answer that question by replicating the functionality of Google Maps using only SQL Server.
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I’m sure most programmers have accidentally created graphics glitches in the past – corrupt image files, incorrect texture maps, that sort of thing, and I’ve certainly encountered them many times as a games player… y’know, the sorts of things that make Lara Croft look like this: However, I’ve only ...
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Every year I set New Year’s resolutions. Many years I don’t succeed in keeping them, but I still believe that there’s a benefit in having thought about what you want to change in your life, and at least making a start towards doing something about it. For 2013, I set myself a resolution that, ...
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“Autonomous Steering Behaviours”, as first defined by Craig Reynolds in his presentation at the 1999 Game Developer’s Conference, are a simple yet effective method of creating realistic movement in computer-controlled characters. As such, they are often considered an important part of “Game A.I.”, ...
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A.I., perhaps unsurprisingly, often borrows inspiration, language, and models from the world of biology. Two common examples are Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) – based on a model of the brain, and Genetic Algorithms (GAs) - based on a model of evolution. There are plenty of case studies of these ...
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Besides the books listed in my previous post, there’s a stack of other useful resources available on the ‘net for game A.I. Here’s some of my favourites: Websites http://natureofcode.com/book/ Entire free online ebook (also available to purchase in paper form) covering a variety of ...
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