Augmented Reality cell phone tower LAYAR beta tester required

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324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#349402 9-Jul-2010 10:56

PM Sent.

Nexus One / Android v2.2 (FRF91)

Pt Chevalier / Auckland

Will be interesting because Vodafone coverage is poor down the end of Pt Chevalier Rd ...

Perrin

40 posts

Geek

#349495 9-Jul-2010 14:16

Just tried this out and it works very well.

I can see a couple of transmitters out my window, and they line up with the reality view. Other nearby locations I can't quite see also make sense, e.g., a few show up for the Telecom building around the corner.

Layar Force-Closed on me a couple of times in map view, and it is often a bit unresponsive. But I've noticed that with other layers, I don't think those problems are anything to do with yours.

Handset is an HTC Desire running stock Android 2.1.

peejayw

1841 posts

Uber Geek

#349646 9-Jul-2010 20:07

Must be doing something wrong here. How do I get the layer to show? When I do a search for it I only get Zenbu?
If I go to the website in my phone browser it says requested layer cannot be opened?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

j0nz

21 posts

Geek

#349650 9-Jul-2010 20:10

have a look at http://layar.pbworks.com/Instructions-for-accessing-test-layers it has instructions for accessing the test layars from either an iPhone or an android phone

j0nz

michaelmurfy

meow
13242 posts

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#349676 9-Jul-2010 21:47

PM Sent:

Vodafone HTC Magic running my own custom mix of 2.1.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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cws82us

788 posts

Ultimate Geek

#349695 9-Jul-2010 23:44

Good work it works great 2 vodafone cell sites and 1 telecom near us

join Quic and get free sign up when you click my link https://account.quic.nz/refer/250676

Linuxluver

5828 posts

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#349697 9-Jul-2010 23:55

Thanks! Got it running in a couple of minutes.

It's the first personally useful thing I've seen in Layar. Great work! I'd keep Layar on my phone just to use this.

A couple of suggestions:

1. In Reality view, some way to expand / reach black circles partially obscured by one in front of it. I could see three circles at Beach Haven Rd and Birkdale Rd, but could only touch the front one. List view is more practical, but then you don't know which dot it is. Map view doesn't appear to let me touch-select a dot. From what I could see, the box at the bottom of the screen was reporting a cell station almost 3 kms away and seemed to be running through a list. I guess I can stop that by reducing the scope of the scan, thus limiting the number of cell stations.

2. Moving the range slider is OK if your phone has a track ball, but if one were to be trying to do it only by touch, the finer differences can be hard to achieve. Any change of a number-roller or type-a-number?

3. If you touch "Take me there", you go to the location on the map, with a tag on it. That's cool. Is there a way to get back that doesn't involve re-launching Layar and re-loading the layer?

4. In the map view, when there are a lot of circles and one is trying to drill in, the map seems to get confused and goes all white....and then you basically have to get out of the map and reload it. It doesn't refresh. At other times, the multi-touch appears to get confused and map again goes white and all the circles/dots are in one tight clump in the centre...and again, when this happens you have to leave the map.

I suspect many of these issues are best addressed by setting the range so that the number of cell stations is keep realtively small - say under 20.

I was able to detect 8 Telecom XT, 8 2degrees and 12 Vodafone cell stations within 2kms of my house.

(Nexus One / Android v2.2)

Summary: Excellent layer. Maybe some minor usability tweeks (as above) particularly for people with phones that lack a trackball or D-Pad. Nexus One has a trackball, but I've used phones that don't...and very precise placement is more difficult with a finger tip. My iPod Touch doesn't have a trackball and I prefer a phone or device that has one.

If I see any more stuff, I'll send it along.

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1eStar

1604 posts

Uber Geek

#349720 10-Jul-2010 10:32

A second slider to limit number of results could be useful. One of my other layers has an automatic range option, would work well in conjunction with a limited number of results.

The reality view struggles while in moving vehicle, probably a layar issue again, map view more useful to locate towers while on the move.

Data seems to be spot on so far in Canterbury plains, wonder if it is live updated to the website to reflect new sites etc?

Yes probably one of the more useful layar layers I've used

1eStar

1604 posts

Uber Geek

#349749 10-Jul-2010 13:34

Crashed it. Can't replicate the crash tho, could be my device out of memory maybe? Was in map view, zoomed in and panning around selecting the nodes and browsing details. Just did a crash once. All works sweet in general, interesting to note all the infill 2100 vodafone sites in Timaru, all telecom on 850MHz round here.

1eStar

1604 posts

Uber Geek

#349813 10-Jul-2010 18:54

Wondering if there might be a datum/projection difference in the RSM data to the google mapping data. When getting down to the nitty gritty the dots on the map aren't exactly where the towers are. I located two prominent towers in Timaru this afternoon and they are in the order of several 100 meters out. I've taken some screenshots and will try to upload... Could of course be the original data isn't super accurate...

richarda

164 posts

Master Geek

#349978 11-Jul-2010 18:05

PM Sent.

HTC Desire / Android v2.1

Porirua / Wellington

eXDee

4032 posts

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#350063 11-Jul-2010 23:49

This program inspired me to find these KML files generated from the same set of data for use in google maps.
http://cid-21228dfc4e937fda.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Public/Cellsite%20Locations

Its actually quite revealing how few towers there are in hamilton on XT, i havent used my phone very much around the city yet. Vodafone seems to to have a lot more and have 2100mhz coverage too (with roughly the same amount of sites as XT for it). Interesting, i wonder if this means battery life would be reduced on XT? sitting at approx "-97dBm 9 asu" according to my phone.