Mixing Khoisan Knowledge with Drone Technology | Hacker News Reader

Mixing Khoisan Knowledge with Drone Technology

iafrikan.com

30 pointstefo-mohapi11 comments

I find it incredible that, having never seen aerial photography before, after a bit of practice, they can easily recognize and distinguish different animals in 10x10 blobs of pixels.

Oh come on.

Don't you find that amazing? Do you think anyone can just do that? Can you distinguish different species in a photo if each animal is the same size as the ones in the last photo in the article?

No I do not think "anyone can just [identify these animals from aerial photographs]." I think the people most likely to correctly identify the animals in aerial photos were those with the most experience identifying the animals on the ground. So, no I could not distinguish the different species in the last photo. But I would also have trouble distinguishing the animals regardless of the photo quality. I have no idea how a Blue Gnu is differentiated from another type of Gnu.

Let me use an analogy to try and explain what I mean.

If some of the best sprinters in the world managed to sprint 100m in 8.5 seconds, I wouldn't be surprised that they managed to to that. But I would still find it impressive. I would not be like, "Who gives a shit? They are athletes. That's what you should have expected."

Ok, I understand now. Misunderstood you earlier. Apologies.

Why is this so surprising? I will be honest, my reaction after reading the article was "Newsflash, the best data analysts are those individuals with the greatest subject matter expertise." They have an incredible amount of knowledge about the landscape and the flora/fauna that inhabit it. Why wouldn't they be the better equipped to analyze images. Is it surprising that "the natives" have discovered that taller objects cast longer shadows? Or is it surprising that they possess the critical thinking skills to take this height/shadow knowledge and apply it to aerial images? I have seen a lot of aerial pictures in my life, but I would be shocked if I was able to look at the aerial photos and identify a handful of the various species of animals pictured.

I said incredible, not surprising. As in I find it impressive.

Fine, strike my first sentence and replace it with: "Why is this so difficult to believe (AKA incredible)?"

Why so rude?

Like the OP I also pleasantly surprised. Not because I am a racist who thinks the Khoisan are stupid, they are not (I have actually met many of them, they are some of the nicest people in the word).

I would not have thought anyone could do that who had not aerial studied photos of animals could identify them from such low resolution photos... much like submarine operators had to be trained to identify ships at long distances through periscopes. Professional sailors know ships very well, but not so well that they can distinguish between very similar ships at long distances and at random angles (ships look 2D at long distances).

I sincerely regret that my message was rude, that was not my intent.

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