Out of the dark

Surveying street lighting to see if it is bright enough for pedestrians and
motorists is a laborious task, which normally has to be carried out manually.
But Gordon Dodds and his colleagues at Queen’s University Belfast have devised a
way to automate the process. They drive around after dark taking pictures, while
their vehicle is tracked through the Global Positioning System satellites, which
record the position where each picture was taken. When they later analyse the
information, this tells them where the pictures were taken. They can then decide
whether the lighting needs improving.