ARound project

Introduction

Over the last year, some "augmented reality browser" applications have been popping up, specially on the Android platform. While the concept is not new (research on the proper field of Augmented Reality dates back to the '90s), many current devices are starting to feature the necessary functionality in terms of hardware.

Unfortunately there is no mention so far of any similar application^* on Symbian smartphones, so this project aims to fill the gap by providing a prototype application featuring the use of sensors, camera and location based services.

[*] Though we could consider Nokia Research Center's MARA project (2006) as the first attempt to bring this functionality on a Nokia smartphone.

Implementation

The application overlays the image stream generated from the camera with markers of "Points of Interest" around the user. It has been developed for the Nokia N97 and Nokia Navigator devices.

Making use of plugins allows third-party developers to customize the application at different levels.

This is a basic diagram of the application's functionality:

The overall scene is dictated by the position and orientation determined by the sensors, which combined with the data retrieved from the source form the overall frame.

Features

• Use of Data Source plugins, which allows third-party developers to add their own sources of information.
• Display different details of each point of interest, including hiperlinks to external resources.
• Being a pluggable component makes it possible for third-party developers to include it as a customized view into their applications.

Screenshots

FAQ

• Is the application available for 3rd ed FP1, or other 5th edition devices?

Unfortunately the application needs certain sensory in order to work, so it will not work on all Symbian devices. Currently the only devices featuring the required sensors (gps, accelerometers and magnetometer) are the Navigator Series, 5730 XpressMusic and N86 (3rd ed fp2) and the N97 (5th ed)

• My Samsung device has the necessary sensors, then why isn't it supported?
  

Even though some Samsung devices feature the necessary hardware, they use a different (incompatible) API.

• The application doesn't seem to get gps signal after trying for some minutes

Please note that this application is meant to be used outdoors in order to obtain a clean gps signal. If you still have problems to get a good signal please make sure you have your gps configuration set up correctly. According to our experience, enabling Assisted and Integrated GPS gives the best results. Also make sure you have a valid configuration for "Positioning Server" (Located inside the "Positioning" tab in the configuration program)