Reader Question - Augmented Reality on Mobile Devices

Last week I got the following email message from a reader who had attended the Online Impact 2010 Event held at Springfield Technical Community College on January 14:

Hi Gordon,
I wanted to let you know I really enjoyed Online Impact. It was great and I look forward to the next one. During the second panel session you described a cell phone application where a user can look at the camera and have information display on the screen about what the person is looking at. This sounds pretty interesting. I just got an iPhone, can you point me to any specific applications I can try?
Thanks again, JJ

Thanks for the question JJ and really glad you enjoyed Online Impact, it was a great event and we're meeting next week to start planning the next one! The technology I mentioned is called augmented reality - basically layering digital information onto the real world. One of the most commonly known augmented reality applications are the yellow lines you see on televised football games indicated how far a team has to go for a first down. This technology has been around for a while - it was first used on September 27, 1998 by Sportvision and ESPN during the broadcast of a Bengals and Ravens game.

Mobile devices (like cell phones) can take this technology one step further, allowing developers to create applications that combine the built in camera, GPS, and compass to layer virtual data over the real world. We're just starting to see these kinds of applications for mobile devices like iPhones and Android phones. Here's some examples courtesy of a recent piece in Wired Magazine. I've included short YouTube video links of each application in action. Some of these apps are currently available and some are in production.

iPhone Apps

Yelp Monocle - uses iPhone camera and compass to place Yelp ratings over a live view of establishments. Demo video linked here.
iPhone ARider - Streams Google Maps from your iPhone to a special eyepiece you mount on your bike helmet. Demo video linked here.
Acrossair Nearest Subway - Overlays directions and subway line information on the iPhone's camera view. Demo video linked here.

Android (Google OS) Apps

TwittARound - Through the device camera, shows you location-stamped tweets (available from certain Twitter clients) from others nearby. Demo video linked here.
Layer Reality Browser - Point the Android camera at a cityscape and this application coughs up data - everything from the location of bus stations and skate parks to real estate prices. Demo video linked here.

Coming Soon

TAT Augmented ID - You knew this one is coming(!) Using face-recognition software from Polar Rose, this application can scan a strangers face and reveal their contact info and profile stats. Demo video linked here.

We're just in the infancy stages of this technology. Check some of these out and keep watching places like Wired and this blog for new information!

Google Launches Cell Phone Map Location Application

Yesterday Google launched a new beta application called Google Maps with My Location (My Location). According to Google, the downloaded application runs on most web-enabled mobile phones. Once installed, My Location determines exactly where you are located using GPS if you have a GPS enabled phone. If you don't have a GPS enabled phone, My Location uses cell tower triangulation to indicate your location with 1000 meters.

Here's a bit of a bonus - remember - GPS services are not available indoors but cell phone services are. This means, using cell phone signal triangulation, My Location can find your location when you are indoors!

My Location is still in Beta and, according to the Google My Location site, "is available for most web-enabled mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices."

Here's a YouTube video demonstrating how the service works:



It will be interesting to see if Apple incorporates My Location into the iPhone Google Map application.

Global Positioning System (GPS) Jammers

I recently bought a Bluetooth GPS receiver and software for my PDA and it has changed the way I drive. I find myself traveling to a lot of new places and I often end up renting a car when I get there. With my GPS system I can pre-load maps and location destinations (like hotels and meeting addresses) before I arrive. When I get to the rental car I turn the receiver on, put it on the dashboard and turn the PDA on. In a couple of clicks my PDA is talking to me, guiding me turn my turn to where I'm supposed to be going. The device has saved me a lot of time, stress and confusion when I'm trying to get to someplace I'm not familiar with.

GPS locations are based on positioning relative to 24 satellites orbitting 12,000 miles above the earth and generating (by the time they get to earth) relatively weak wireless signals. As a result, it does not take much signal power to jam them. GPS works on two different frequencies:1575.42 MHz for non-military public use and 1227.6 MHz used for the United States military. The military has used GPS jammers for a long time to confuse the enemy. Consider a GPS guided missile directed at a specific location - if a target location is jammed missiles will likely not be able to hit that location.

GPS jamming went mainstream with an article published in Phrack Magazine in January 2003 titled Low Cost and Portable GPS Jammer. Here's a quote from the article: "the onslaught of cheap GPS-based navigation (or hidden tracking devices) has made it necessary for the average citizen to take up the fine art of electronic warfare."

Here's a few more quotes from the Phrack article:

Several companies now sell "hidden" GPS based tracking devices which mount inside
or underneath your vehicle.  Some transmit the coordinates, via cellular phone, of
your vehicle's present and/or past locations for weeks at a time without battery
changes or court orders!

Vehicle rental companies have been known to use GPS tracking devices to verify you
don't speed or abuse their rental vehicles.  The unsuspecting renter is often faced
with these hidden abuse "fees" after returning the rental vehicle.

Law enforcement agencies...... keep track of house arrest prisoners with simple GPS
based tracking bracelets.  Some even use GPS for automatic vehicle location

Cellular phone companies, trucking companies, private investigators, toll-roads,
aircraft, those "protect your child" systems and many more services are all fully
involved with the use of GPS based tracking.  The problem is, do you really want
everyone to know where you are?

I was watching local news the other evening....... a small town near where I live has installed GPS units on all of the town highway department trucks. The location of all vehicles is monitored and administrators know where their vehicles are, where workers have been and where they are going. The town justified the purchase based on the price of gas and wear and tear on the vehicles and expected a full return on the technology investment within 3 years.

Some that work for these kinds of companies and organizations don't like the idea of someone knowing exactly where they are all the time and have obtained, or are considering obtaining, GPS signal jammers. A quick search on eBay for "gps jammer" yields several battery and cigarette lighter devices starting at $76.

MicroVideoX.com has a video posted on YouTube demonstrating their GPS Counter Track device:



Interesting technology and the devices look like they are fun to play with. However, I don't believe I would risk my job.