Copenhagen Layer in Reality view

Now that the Copenhagen Conference is over we are left with a disappointing end statement. Apparently this was the maximum our world leaders could achieve when they got together: the potential was huge, the output (very) disappointing.

In this light I’m very proud to present a local grass-roots initiative to bring street level measurements of environmental pollution to the real time web and your mobile phone.

Please meet Copenhagenlayer.org and its Augmented Reality counter part Copenhagen Layer (link opens Layar app on your mobile device, only useful if you’re in Copenhagen).

So what is it actually?

It all started with a blog post by Ronni Tino Pedersen in October, about how cool it would be to visualize the local Copenhagen climate and green initiatives as an overlay over the city, using Augmented Reality. There was no clear focus, but people got interested and started to contact him with ideas. And so the plan grew to

1. take tiny portable environmental measurement devices,
2. link these to the internet using mobile phones,
3. have bike messengers drive them around through city traffic,
4. thus get a real-time cross section of the local environment conditions within the city,
5. make these data points visible using Mobile Augmented Reality.

This only could happen by the shared effort of a very enthusiastic virtual team. This team consisted of

• Ronni Tino Pedersen Strategic online communications @ New Media Days at Danish Broadcasting Corporation – initiator and virtual project manager
• Michael Setton, CEO of Sensaris.com who provided the sensors (senspods) and real time measurement set-up
• Tobias Lau, CEO and founder of Socialaction.dk developing environmental projects with a social scientific focus
• Michael Friis, creator of Folketsting.dk created the site copenhagenlayer.org including the Google Maps version
• Tomas Skovgaard, architect maa Tomasskovgaard.com made all graphics
• Peter Vangsbo Madsen, Cowi.com provided specialist advise on air pollution
• And myself as data integrator and developer of the Layar implementation

The result is impressive, using your mobile phone you can experience what the environmental conditions are in your direct neighborhood, and if you’re lucky this data is measured just a few minutes ago! Although not yet directly related to the big picture of the Copenhagen Conference with its focus on CO2 reduction, this project may evolve so that a future version can even visualize the real-time carbon footprint of traffic in the city.

To quote Ronni Tino Pedersen:

I actually think copenhagenlayer in it’s current state will make a greater impact as part of the COP15 long tail than it could have during the summit. By focusing on the enabling possibilities of street level measurements we can now show some grassroots action that the politicians couldn’t. This is a good story with a fair chance of making it through the journalistic filters.

And so it is indeed.

Are you in Copenhagen? Then jump in: open Layer with the Copenhagen Layer

Just keep in mind that this project is in its early stages. The measurements are not very well calibrated yet. Interpretation is always risky and indicative at best, but the trends are real and it is very revealing to see the enormous difference of being surrounded by busy traffic or being amidst a calm city park. There are lots and lots more data available from the senspods than NOx alone, these will be integrated once a solid model for interpretation will be established. And with more sensors and more data points available all kind of aggregated views can be constructed and more reliable conclusions drawn. Heatmaps, rush hour vs. mid day traffic, summer vs winter, the sky is the limit.

This is the start of something great!

Pollution samples on the map

List view with pollutin gauges

Reality view, horizontal layout

Copenhagen Layer in Reality view

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Local tweet in Tweeps Around

Right now Twitter released their long awaited Geotagging API and activated the user interface for every user: Think Globally, Tweet Locally!

This allows every twitter user who uses a (mobile) device that is capable of determining their location, to annotate their tweets with exact location. This makes Tweeps Around so much more useful! Up to now, the location had to be parsed from the user’s profile location field, which some clients indeed dutifully update with the location of the last posted tweet. But this is often rather inaccurate, as the last update is kept when no location data is available.

Twitter: mobile geo activation screen

So, we will get real exact locations and – as can be expected – many more location annotated tweets. That is, if users are willing to activate the geotagging setting and use the feature. It is switched off by default, for privacy reasons, so you have to manually activate it under your twitter account settings (the mobile settings lead to just one activate button).

Be sure to check out Tweeps Around the coming days and let’s see how fast this catches on!

BTW: in Tweeps Areond, the officially geotagged tweets are indicated with Distance 234m, whereas the guessed locations are prefixed with a tilde character, like this: Distance ~234m.

Direct link to Tweeps Around Layer (open from your mobile phone, iPhone or Android).

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Image via CrunchBase

Today Dennis Crowley from Foursquare gave an excellent presentation at  Mobile Monday, Amsterdam edition (#momoams on Twitter).

If you were there, you now know everything about the city as playground (pacmanhattan.com) and personal metrics.

I’m very grateful and proud that he took the opportunity to announce my Foursquare application for Layar, which allows you to use the most popular features of Foursquare from Layar.

What it is

Foursquare is a very popular social network game which integrates virtual social networks with the real world. Friends meet friends in cafes and bars and let each other know where they hang out. If you haven’t yet, it is definitely worth to check it out.

The Foursquare Layar app gives you access to the most frequently used features of the network.

• Show venues around you, including which people are frequenting them, who is the mayor and user tips what to do.
• Find nearby tips what to do and see at a glance what makes a location special.
• Check in to a venue and let your friends know that you hang out there.

Open Layer with foursquare

A basic version of these views is accessible even when you’re not signed in to Foursquare, which gives you an excellent opportunity to look around before jumping in and signing up (I’m quiet sure you will eventually plunge in and sign up to connect with your friends)!

These views are greatly enhanced when you’re signed-in. Then all venues where you or your friends have checked in are prioritized and highlighted. Tips from friends stand out. And you’re able to view what users have on their profile, which “badges” they earned and so on.

Give it a spin: open the Foursquare Layer on your mobile device.

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How cool would it be if Second Life was not constrained to its own virtual world, but existed right here, as an overlay on the real world around you?

I tried it at least twice, but never really “got into” Second Life. Maybe because it is too “virtual” for me, too much disconnected from real people and real places. But what if the existing environment could be enhanced with – well… anything goes! Some examples:

• A virtual tour through an ancient Roman settlement which existed once around the 3rd age
• A virtual guide telling you about the history of a building (with audio and video)
• Time travel: see this place how it evolved over time
• Architectural development: project 3D renderings of a future building on a construction site
• Yourself with a virtual “skin”, symbolizing some character you play in a role playing game
• …and then: options to connect in the real world, connect the real you with the game character somehow
• Education: labeling items such as buildings, trees, traffic signs and attach quizzes about their meaning
• Remember the crazy Japanese gadget called Lovegetty? Oh well…
• See? really, the sky is the limit!

That was one of the dreams I had when thinking about the future possibilities of Augmented Reality applications, such as Layar, but then equipped with a real 3D rendering engine and real-time update possibilities.

It looks like this future is actually right around the corner with the announcement of Layar 3D, yesterday. Not all of this will be readily available – let alone work smooth enough on today’s mobile devices, but the start is definitely here and soon available on a handset near you.

Some videos from the announcement embedded below, be sure to check out the Layar 3D site as well!

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When I received my Android powered T-mobile G1 phone, I was a bit disappointed by its form factor (clunky design) and – as I felt it – lack of integration between the available apps. I knew the iPhone from seeing it in use around me (hey, everyone has an iPhone, right?) and this is definitely the more elegant one of the two.

But soon came the insight that Andoid may well be much more powerful, especially compared to the – still current – iPhone 2.x OS. What, no background processes on the iPhone, are they kidding? Also, the Android process management is really very clever. I still don’t have any hands on experience with the iPhone, but I suspect that the Andoid process management compares to the iPhone as pre-emptive multitasking to cooperative multitasking (exactly what made the old Mac OS 7..9 so incredibly sensitive to hanging programs, and which is now completely solved by using the Mach kernel in OS-X).

Anyway, I just found a decent breakdown of Andoid vs iPhone features compared: Android Versus iPhone 3.0: The Showdown (lifehacker). I think Android has still much room for improvement, but also the best opportunities due to its open nature and multi-platform support (say netbooks). Let’s see what the Cupcake release will bring and then do this comparison with real phones again!

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Please note, this blog post is in Dutch (translate).

Mijn eerste indrukken na een paar dagen spelen met de Android powered HTC G1 (door T-Mobile ook wel “Googlephone” genoemd). Voornamelijk vanuit de mogelijkheden op internet gebied, en vergeleken met mijn oude Sony Ericsson 810i (SE).

Direct bij het eerste opstarten krijg je een melding dat de telefoon het best (of alleen maar?) met een google account gebruikt kan worden. Ik heb niet geprobeerd wat er wel/niet mogelijk is zonder google account, maar ben meteen ingelogd met mijn Google Apps account.

Adresboek en agenda
Het blijkt meteen waarom dat google account zo belangrijk is: dit is namelijk de enige manier om adressen en agenda’s te synchroniseren met de G1. Via Bluetooth wordt geen enkele uitwisselings-functie ondersteund, via de USB kabel blijk je alleen bij de externe flash kaart te kunnen en niet bij het telefoon geheugen zelf. Dat betekent vanzelf ook geen iSync vanuit Mac OSX en geen uitwisseling met Addressbook en iCal.

Die synchronisatie zal dus via google moeten lopen, om dat te configureren is niet helemaal triviaal:

• Configuratie van iCal om agenda’s met Google Calendar te synchroniseren gaat het best met programma Calaboration.
• Addressbook kan zelf met Google Contacts synchroniseren, mits je een iPhone of iPod touch aangesloten hebt (waarom?) maar er is een ingewikkelde work around voor synchronisatie met Google zonder iPhone.

Op de SE werkte iSync juist vlekkeloos, alleen groepen van adressen en agenda’s werden niet ondersteund.

E-mail
Op de G1 zijn er twee ingebouwde opties voor email: een gmail client die onberispelijk werk in alle opzichten, en een meer traditionele email client die je simpel kan configureren met je mail account gegevens. Het gebruik van IMAP over SSL is hier geen probleem, je kan de betreffende instellingen en poort nummers makkelijk invoeren. Er is alleen een groot gebrek aan deze mail client: er wordt geen IMAP IDLE ofwel push email ondersteund. De SE mail applicatie deed dat wel, al ruim twee jaar geleden (alleen was het daar nodig om voor de mailserver van XS4ALL een apart SSL certificaat te installeren).

Web browser
De ingebouwde webbrowser is niets bijzonders, werkt zoals het hoort en zelfs de javascript ondersteuning is acceptabel. Alleen de user interface is te beperkt, navigatie gaat alleen redelijk via obscure toetsenbord commando’s.

Op de SE was een oudere versie van Opera Mobile meegeleverd, maar met wat kunst en vliegwerk bleek het goed mogelijk om de actuele 4.x versie te installeren. Die browser heeft zelfs zonder touch screen een prettigere user interface.

Verder is er ook slecht nieuws voor wat betreft de mobiele versie van Firefox, Fennec, die juist als eerste alpha release beschikbaar is. Het ziet er niet naar uit dat die ooit voor Android beschikbaar komt doordat Android alleen Java applicaties ondersteunt (en Fennec is in C/C++ ontwikkeld).

Muziek speler
De ingebouwde Walkman software van de SE was – na mijn iPod – een belediging, ik heb die nooit gebruikt. Sony heeft destijds een leuk apparaat voor cassettebandjes gemaakt, daar hadden ze het bij moeten laten.

De ingebouwde music player voor Android is een hele verademing. Prettig dat er niet te veel opties zijn, dat houdt het wel overzichtelijk. Alleen kan ik me geen uitgebreide bibliotheek in het ding voorstellen (maar dat gaat ook niet op 8G Flash, max. 16G).

Camera
De 2M pixel camera van de SE is niet veel bijzonders. Maar wel beter dan de 3M pixel camera van de G1! Het beeld is vaag, met vale kleuren en de lichtgevoeligheid is zeer beperkt. Verder kan de G1 met de huidige Android versie geen filmpjes maken (de SE wel, al zijn die het aanzien niet waard). Waar de SE het met een simpele witte LED moets doen als verlichting, heeft de G1 helemaal niets. Donker is gewoon pech gehad.

Android Market: applicaties
Dit is het grote verschil tussen de G1 (ok, en de iPhone) en de rest van de smart phones die momenteel beschikbaar zijn: de open toegang tot het platform voor  ontwikkelaars om applicaties te ontwikkelen en aan de man te brengen. De tegenghaner van de Apple’s App Store is de Android Market.

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