Posted on 09/21/2012 12:21:47 PM PDT by SMGFan
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As one who works with GIS (computerized cartography or mapping) every day, this doesn't sound like much of a problem at all.
Those descriptions of vertical distortions sound exactly like what you see in Google Earth when the (vertical) terrain exaggeration is turned up too high in "preferences".
Terrain height magnification is a single (application-wide) "global variable". If it is not adjustable by the user, (as in Google Earth) then simply coding in a single number will fix it. As in Google Earth, terrain may not look as "interesting", but it will be rendered more realistically.
No big deal...
Because that isn't the Passbook business/usage model. The whole point of the exercise is to be a clearinghouse for interactivity between customer and business. Just adding in a loyalty card isn't an interactive relationship; tying it to the business is. Besides, there are already programs that allow you to capture your loyalty cards (I have one, called KeyRing).
When looked at from that light, Passbook depends entirely on 3rd party support -- the company behind the card, ticket, or whatever, has to be involved, or Passbook won't work. As such, I think it's premature to judge it, because we don't yet know to what extent 3rd party business will support it, and how well it will actually work in practice. I suspect it will actually work out far better than most people expect, but that it will take several months to get to that point.
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