Project type: Mobile
Services: Development, Testing

Project Description:

The mobile guide on the sights of London for iPhone allows finding places of interest in the city using the camera of a smartphone utilizing the augmented reality and the visual map technology.

Customer's Need:

The customer wanted to become a market leader in the augmented reality video podcasts (vodcasts) industry for mobile devices. The application had to provide a fast, informative and entertaining way for self-guided GPS-based walks to help one reach the top places of interest in major cities.

Main challenges:

The iPhone app development team had to enable users to draw routes on the visual map, bringing together several places of interest in a single route. Another challenge was to implement the augmented reality feature making the application recognize London sights and display their names and descriptions, when the user points at them with the camera of a smartphone.

The Solution:

First of all, the Altoros team had to enable users to draw routes on the visual map. As there is no standard interface for this, the application sends queries to Google, which returns data in the special format, Google waves. The application parses this data and displays the route on the map.

To solve the augmented reality challenge, the team synchronized the compass and the accelerometer of an iPhone. This is how it works: the user position is detected through GPS, the direction s/he looks at is detected with a compass, the smartphone view (vertical or horizontal) is determined through an accelerometer. The application synchronizes this data and calculates the exact point the user is looking at. The application searches for sights located at that point and displays them, along with text descriptions as part of the augmented reality.

The Outcome:

The application allows users to find their way in London in a fast and amusing manner. They can use the camera of their smartphones to find the nearest place of interest. The solution also allows finding sights and drawing routes on the visual map using the Google services. With this easy-to-use mobile guide, users can also find and read the information about different sights of London—a perfect app for both locals and tourists.