BMG Online Space

Today we had a group tutorial with Phil, the group was split down into smaller groups as it was in the small room downstairs and that it got the other guys involved more.

I started off explaining what I have been researching about on my blog and what I still need to research on. Some of the things talked about where:

• Ordnance Survey maps with having extra content and more detail than other maps, like contours etc…

• Flickr photo sharing site

• Google liquid galaxy, video below

• A-Z maps of London

• Video floor plans of buildings

• Time lapse video’s

• CCTV

• iPod application like a periscope

One of the other things that was talked about was one of my early ideas, fictional maps and drawing them. One point put forward was building a 3D map in After Effects of either fictional or real locations with photos or drawing them from scratch. There was also talk of post cards but in video form, key locations like Bournemouth gardens. An idea on how to do this was maybe go up in the Bournemouth balloon to get an aerial view, just a possibility.

After the tutorial I think I might begin to look into drawing my own real location maps and integrating them into the video post card idea, that sounds like a good route to go down. I now need to look into what already exists in the video post card route.

Location based information can be interpreted in any form, from the average ordnance survey paper maps to photos and video which is what I want to develop. One of the ways that you can get a sense of location and explore is panoramic photos, these are photos that have been stitched together to give a wider angle. Apple have developed a piece of software that can compose panoramic photos to be joined up from end to end, this then gives the experience of a total immersive experience. The Quicktime VR then lets you navigate around the photo as if you are there, this gives a great effect. I like this idea very much I would love to maybe apply this effect to video some how.

Real maps maybe overlaid with video content. I want to have something more than just Google street view maybe a digital tour (video map) of the Arts University College at Bournemouth campus. This seems to be an area that Google Maps has not gone into, maybe explore the inside of buildings like a floor plan but in video. I think it would be good to explore the inside of buildings integrated with real maps online. Maybe getting to grips with the Google Maps API could help with the maps.

Extract from OSMapping YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/OSMapping#p/u/2/jANDq2Ad5H4)

❝ This incredible three-dimensional map of Bournemouth is made from 700 million individual points of light.
Ordnance Survey has been trialling the use of incredibly accurate lasers to create a spectacularly detailed map that could change the way the national mapping agency works and transform the way we think of maps forever.
The trials have been carried out in Bournemouth, with the town centre captured in startling detail. Experts say the technology could revolutionise the future of personal navigation, tourism and the planning process as well as aiding architects, and the emergency and security services. ❞

Other mapping ideas are already a reality with the popular Google Maps.

Extract from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps)

❝ Google Maps (for a time named Google Local) is a basic web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free… ❞

❝ It offers street maps, a route planner for traveling by foot, car, or public transport and an urban business locator for numerous countries around the world. ❞

Google Maps works on all computers that can access the world wide web, from Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX and Linux; a computer with a web browser. I want to maybe use Google maps in my project, the Google Maps API would come in useful for that purpose.

URL to Google Maps (http://maps.google.co.uk/)

These are some fictional maps I just draw in my spare time, maybe I could incorporate the way I draw the maps into my project. I could maybe draw a real map into the style of my own like above: maybe Bournemouth sea front, New Forest.

❝ WF Google has just launched a turn-by-turn sat-nav application for the Android 2.0 smartphones. It’s an obvious step to move from mapping with directions to sat-nav, but the amazing thing is that it’s free to use, and by all accounts it’s good. The days of windscreens dominated by dedicated sat-navs are numbered.

FM Don’t be so sure about that. The difference between standalone sat-nav devices and Google’s free offering is that one is dedicated to the task and reliable, and the other is neither. Guess which is which.?

WF How do you know that Google Maps Navigation is any less reliable than the dedicated systems? And even if it is, it’s not as if TomTom, Navigon, Garmin and Navman have never courted controversy themselves. However good the free Google system is, it’s going to get better, which will make life even harder for the paid alternatives.

FM I know it simply because Google Nav relies on having a good network signal or Wi-Fi. Personal navigation devices have pre-loaded maps, not to mention processor and graphics tech dedicated to sat-nav. Plus, TomTom’s Live Traffic data comes partly from actual TomTom users, an infrastructure so complex that TomTom has to charge for it. Google will be forced to buy its live traffic data from the cheapest vendor, with a subsequent loss in quality.

WF Google could easily track the positions of its nav app users. If anything, Google’s system has the potential to be even more accurate. But regardless of whether Google itself slings the death blow, it’ll be slung by smartphones. A phone has considerably more power than your average PND – more memory, more processing power, better screen, better connectivity, and it’s already in your pocket. There’s no physical barrier to preventing a phone from being just as good a sat-nav as a PND is.

FM I don’t think that sat-nav manufacturers will sit back and let Google take their business. TomTom and Navigon already have iPhone apps, a move that shows that they are willing to threaten their own standalone products in order to play the market share game: lose a little in the traditional market, get it back elsewhere. But, don’t underestimate the number of Mrs Smiths that will always buy a proper sat-nav device. Like MP3 players and ebook readers, sat-nav has become a service that you can buy into at many levels.

WF Whether they’re on their laurels or not, PND manufacturers should watch out. Whatever they have up their sleeves to make me want to buy a PND, they’d better pull it out soon. Google likes to own a market and it already has the infrastructure to sew this one up. ❞

The new HTC with Google Maps Navigation.

❝ Also belting out Google’s dangerously appealing “free” mantra is Maps Navigation. It does exactly what it says on the tin and transforms the Android 2.0-based phones on which it runs into fully-featured, turn-by-turn sat-navs. And they’ll actually be good sat-navs, with voice search, live traffic, Street View (with directions overlaid on pictures of the real world) and a car dock mode with big, easily poked buttons. Will it really kill off the traditional standalone sat-nav for good? ❞

Flow 5.0 is made up of hundreds of computer fans. The fans are responsive and triggered by motion sensors. As you pass through the tunnel the fans begin to spin and create a gentle flow of air reflecting your presence.