Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#21

Post by untog » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:39 PM UTC

navpatel wrote: post #9

untog wrote: post #2

I'd love to know a little more about what's going on here. Does it use accelerometers or just wifi signals? One key question: could I share these floorplans? That is to say, using the sensors on HTC Android device #1, could I sent a floorplan to my friend Samsung device #2 and have them be able to similarly track their location? Does it only work indoors, or is that just for demonstration?

It will work wherever there are ambient WiFi signals, indoors or outdoors. This is particularly interesting indoors because it’s possible to get GPS outdoors, while you can’t indoors. We have tried mapping around Mountain View and it’s worked great

My specific use case is in tracking very small movements, i.e. ones that a GPS would not pick up. I was wondering if this would provide a solution to that, but it still seems to have a delay attached.

Doesn't take away from some very impressive tech on display. Kudos.

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#22

Post by navpatel » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:40 PM UTC

leishulang wrote: post #17

doesn't work for my on campus wifi. any requirements on the wifi network? My phone is htc one x.

No specific requirements for wifi at all. Which part didn't work exactly?

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#23

Post by navpatel » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:41 PM UTC

insane_man wrote: post #20

jdhuang wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough. We have a 90 second video on YouTube that should give you a sense of what you'll get: www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GdXp_Swjs But basically, yes. It lets you build indoor positioning by walking around my room.

Not everyone has time to watch videos, especially at work. A simple text description would work a lot better.

you're right. we're working on a blog post describing the app, and should probably get a better description on google play

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#24

Post by GFischer » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:44 PM UTC

The explanation on the Play Store didn't make sense to me, only by watching the video could I understand what it did.

Actually, a coworker thought it worked the other way round :) (build a map by walking around).

I don't have a floor plan of anywhere, they're not required here in Uruguay.

Btw, video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GdXp_Swjs

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#25

Post by leishulang » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:49 PM UTC

navpatel wrote: post #22

leishulang wrote: post #17

doesn't work for my on campus wifi. any requirements on the wifi network? My phone is htc one x.

No specific requirements for wifi at all. Which part didn't work exactly?

when I was walking the cursor does not move along. I think my campus wifis are using signal repeaters.

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#26

Post by playeren » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:51 PM UTC

jdhuang wrote: post #18

playeren wrote: post #15

Did you write image recognition from scratch yourselves, or is it based on a lib?

It's actually based on the ambient Wi-Fi signature of the airwaves around you. There is no image recognition involved!

Ah ok, so the *floorplan you supply just acts as a "background/walking-guide" for your mapping?

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#27

Post by navpatel » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:52 PM UTC

GFischer wrote: post #24

The explanation on the Play Store didn't make sense to me, only by watching the video could I understand what it did. Actually, a coworker thought it worked the other way round :) (build a map by walking around). I don't have a floor plan of anywhere, they're not required here in Uruguay. Btw, video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GdXp_Swjs

A lot of people just scribble down a drawing on paper, and then use the "I Want To Take A Picture With My Camera" option. The floorplan is just a reference point, so you can makeup whatever floorplan makes sense for you. For example: https://lh4.ggpht.com/Y1z9Qt5EggwNdg0Caua9dJGWV8dZmnYhioten1...

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#28

Post by aklofas » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 7:52 PM UTC

Does this adapt it's map on the fly like a true SLAM, or does it only work off the access points detected during the configuration phase?

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#29

Post by GFischer » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 8:01 PM UTC

navpatel wrote: post #27

GFischer wrote: post #24

The explanation on the Play Store didn't make sense to me, only by watching the video could I understand what it did. Actually, a coworker thought it worked the other way round :) (build a map by walking around). I don't have a floor plan of anywhere, they're not required here in Uruguay. Btw, video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_GdXp_Swjs

A lot of people just scribble down a drawing on paper, and then use the "I Want To Take A Picture With My Camera" option. The floorplan is just a reference point, so you can makeup whatever floorplan makes sense for you. For example: https://lh4.ggpht.com/Y1z9Qt5EggwNdg0Caua9dJGWV8dZmnYhioten1...

Thanks :) , I can do that :) .

Will try it out at home. Looks cool, and sounds like it could lead to interesting use cases.

Re: Show HN: Indoor Location you can try yourself

#30

Post by navpatel » Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 8:05 PM UTC

aklofas wrote: post #28

Does this adapt it's map on the fly like a true SLAM, or does it only work off the access points detected during the configuration phase?

We’ve found good results using only the configuration phase; we have versions with full SLAM but it tends to work well without it. The QuickMap app uses only access points detected during the configuration phase.