- Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:51 pm
#162079
Hi all,
I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction for a project I'm starting.
Concisely, what I need is to get a reading on a smart phone (or similar non-phone device like an iTouch or a tablet) about its location with a greater degree of accuracy than I've been able to get with the phones' internal GPS (I've worked with Android and iPhone). Preferably within a meter, but the cost/accuracy ratio would have to be taken into account.
In more detail, I work in educational technology, and in the past I've attempted to develop some location-based augmented reality games using Layar and the phones' internal GPS, but the technical problems were overbearing. I piloted one with college students (a very simple murder mystery that was little more than a few location triggered web pages), and many of the phones were unable to access the AR layer. Of the ones that were, many had difficulty triggering the points, even when they were right on top of them, due to the GPS inaccuracy. In the end, they ended up in four groups of five people sharing one phone when they were supposed to each have their own. The response was still very positive ("coolest thing ever," etc), but I wasn't comfortable trying it with actual kids, let alone doing something more complicated where the players would have an inventory and make choices that affect the game, etc, without figuring out a way around the accuracy issue. Even a better GPS would still be problematic indoors, which might be necessary in some circumstances.
Recently I had an ad on my sidebar for "WiFi based micro location beacons for iOs apps" but the page refreshed just as I was about to click. You'd think that would be a reasonably easy thing to Google, given that there was an ad and everything, but I haven't been able to find anything like this specific product, nor have I really seen a way to interface with it with the device in such a way that I get some coordinates or something I can run code against. I know retail stores are reportedly using WiFi tracking to see where customers go within the store, so I'm sure there must be a way to accomplish this.
Does anyone have any ideas about how I might be able to accomplish this reasonably cheaply? I understand that it would be helpful if I gave specific numbers, but really the best I can say at the moment is that the cheaper it is to do, the more likely I am to be able to raise the funds to do it and eventually get it into the hands of some kids. The devices themselves will be a pretty big cost. I'm open to any and all suggestions, including ones starting out "You're going about this all wrong..."
Thanks for your time!
I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction for a project I'm starting.
Concisely, what I need is to get a reading on a smart phone (or similar non-phone device like an iTouch or a tablet) about its location with a greater degree of accuracy than I've been able to get with the phones' internal GPS (I've worked with Android and iPhone). Preferably within a meter, but the cost/accuracy ratio would have to be taken into account.
In more detail, I work in educational technology, and in the past I've attempted to develop some location-based augmented reality games using Layar and the phones' internal GPS, but the technical problems were overbearing. I piloted one with college students (a very simple murder mystery that was little more than a few location triggered web pages), and many of the phones were unable to access the AR layer. Of the ones that were, many had difficulty triggering the points, even when they were right on top of them, due to the GPS inaccuracy. In the end, they ended up in four groups of five people sharing one phone when they were supposed to each have their own. The response was still very positive ("coolest thing ever," etc), but I wasn't comfortable trying it with actual kids, let alone doing something more complicated where the players would have an inventory and make choices that affect the game, etc, without figuring out a way around the accuracy issue. Even a better GPS would still be problematic indoors, which might be necessary in some circumstances.
Recently I had an ad on my sidebar for "WiFi based micro location beacons for iOs apps" but the page refreshed just as I was about to click. You'd think that would be a reasonably easy thing to Google, given that there was an ad and everything, but I haven't been able to find anything like this specific product, nor have I really seen a way to interface with it with the device in such a way that I get some coordinates or something I can run code against. I know retail stores are reportedly using WiFi tracking to see where customers go within the store, so I'm sure there must be a way to accomplish this.
Does anyone have any ideas about how I might be able to accomplish this reasonably cheaply? I understand that it would be helpful if I gave specific numbers, but really the best I can say at the moment is that the cheaper it is to do, the more likely I am to be able to raise the funds to do it and eventually get it into the hands of some kids. The devices themselves will be a pretty big cost. I'm open to any and all suggestions, including ones starting out "You're going about this all wrong..."
Thanks for your time!