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The status of Openhanced and the Layar Starter Kit
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, iPad, iPhone by openhanced on August 20, 2010 | No Comments
My last post is a long time ago (just did another one) and to respond to a few peoples questions, no the Starter Kit is not stalled!
The truth is, I have joined a company to work as a CIO but I’m still available on Fridays for other stuff. I have had many requests and seen many downloads for the Starter Kit and I think that is great. However, I have not been able to release any new features or do bugfixes. Even I have to realize that software can contain bugs or needs support.
Now that I’m back from my Holiday in Southern Spain,
it is hot in there, I have come to the conclusion that I want to release another product based on the starter kit. However, my first change is that it will be an online service to start with. I want to take the approach of an online service that can rollover to a downloadable product in the end (still to determine). I have lots of ideas on what to add but the first priority is to support all new Layar features and make a much better interface. Below are some of the exciting plans that I have for the coming 3-6 months:
Future feature set
It is always hard to cut on features because I like features but I will try no to promise too much at once 
Below is a list of stuff that I’m thinking off:
- Possibility to create multiple data/map layers (not Layar);
- Possibility to create a unique URL for each data layer;
- Adding support for all new Layar features;
- Support for other AR tools (Junaio, Mixare and others);
- More social features;
- Barcode scanner support;
- Map browsing on a public site, all GEO points of signed up users;
- Linking Tweets to locations;
- KML Tours;
- HTML5 capabilities for Layar and others (detail pages etc.).
Only the feature set above is already a big amount of work but I have done stuff on my Fridays and weekends. The trouble however is summer and holidays, lower productivity.
My end goal is not have have just another Layar GEO platform but a much broader tool that supports multiple consumer applications. In the end most location applications do the same trick a little different. Look at Foursquare, Gowella and now Facebook. I want to both support AR tools natively but also other tools capable of location. One thing that I love to add is the support of sensors on location, I’m working on something that will connect to ioBridge.com and even have had a few conversation on doing stuff for wineries.
I think the best thing that could happen is that everyone is capable of building an AR layer without the need to touch code or whatsoever.
My plan is to take enough time to get this going and the first phase will focus on usability and support for the new Layar features, that will be in the first new release. To get all this stuff done I’m going to work with a few fresh developers in India that are going to focus on the mobile pieces of the puzzle.
When re-launched it will be good, flexible, awesome and supported
Test drive, iPad (location enabled), Android with hotspot (Froyo) and HTML5 geo location
Posted in: Android, Blog, Mobile Web Applications, iPad by openhanced on | No Comments
Because of some new projects I’m working on for my new employer I have been doing some extensive testing of the HTML5 GEO location features. Before I go into details, I LOVE this feature and it works great even without GPS.
Years ago I never would have expected that triangular technology could work so well. Just before I continue, this is from the W3C specification:
The Geolocation API defines a high-level interface to location information associated only with the device hosting the implementation, such as latitude and longitude. The API itself is agnostic of the underlying location information sources. Common sources of location information include Global Positioning System (GPS) and location inferred from network signals such as IP address, RFID, WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses, and GSM/CDMA cell IDs, as well as user input. No guarantee is given that the API returns the device’s actual location.
Related to some upcoming projects I have been testing the positioning accuracy and update frequency of the HTML5 GEO location features and my first conclusion is that it works really great.
How did I test?
I simply tested by driving around for a few hours though different areas between Amsterdam, Schiphol and Leiden.
Which equipment did I use?
I used the following equipment:
- iPad 32 Gb WIFI version (location enabled);
- Android Nexus One with Froyo WIFI hotspot;
- T-Mobile GPRS;
- iWebkit and sample HTML5 application.
The results and my trip
I started yesterday on my train trip through Amsterdam and I noticed that the accuracy was really good enough for the ideas that we have in Mind. Don’t always expect navigation quality, you don’t always need it. Navigation quality accuracy is only needed in very specific circumstances. Most of the time nearby quality is good enough.
After my train trip in Amsterdam I drove back home with my car and enabled the iPad Android combination again. During that drive I noticed the following things which I thought are basically very cool and practical:
- in areas without much people and houses (no WIFI) the refresh rate drops and the accuracy decreases;
- in more dense areas the accuracy immediately increases.
I think that is great actually because for nearby kind of applications you don’t need high accuracy, 500 m. is mostly good enough. Another thing is, less people and houses normally means less interesting locations.
When I drove into my own town/village I noticed immediately that the refresh rates increased and that I almost got navigation style accuracy (yeah, awesome). Every 5-10 secs. or so my HTML5 app. updated. To make this happen I use: navigator.geolocation.watchPosition
My conclusion is that we can use HTML5 GEO location for all our apps. and that means no native most of the time. In combination with local storage and caching, non-native apps. can behave almost like native apps. and soon they will have even more capabilities 
Development of new Openhanced Location Starter Kit (hosted), now named Location Based Content Management System
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, Blog, LBS, OH-LBCMS, Open Source by openhanced on April 30, 2010 | No Comments
After releasing the OHLSK (Openhanced Location Starter Kit) we got very positive feedback and some people asked me the following:
- will you support multiple Layars in one install;
- will there be a hosted version available;
- 2d/3d;
- etc.
First thing we decided is to change the name from OHLSK to OH-LBCMS. The end goal is to build a multi purpose Location Based Content Management System that could provide a location store (multimedia included) for applications like:
- Layar;
- Junaoi;
- Mixare;
- Barcode scanners for product searches (can be used by museum);
- Simple vehicle tracking;
- Any other location based application.
In essence many of these applications need the same functionality on the backend and we are planning to provide them. It is not our goal to provide a massive location solution like SimpleGEO does, if you need to store millions of POI’s please look around somewhere else. It is our aim to target for the power users that want to click together very hyper local location solutions (one city or even an attraction park).
One option that we are investigating is to use our system as a frontend to SimpleGEO, that would be a good option. SimpleGEO would handle the realtime retrieval of POI’s and the OH-LBCMS would be the frontend to manage all the POI’s.
Another idea we have is to hookup special mobile pages (based on the excellent jQTouch framework by David Kaneda) to for example Layar or Junaoi actions. Below you see a sample of something we have created before (in English, sorry):
These mobile pages are natively rendered to either iPhone or Android and can contain specific functionality. Most of this is done by HTMl5, jQuery and CSS.
Planning
We aim for having an online version up and running around end of May. This will probably not have the 2d/3d functionality but it will be capable of registering multiple data layers.
Update: Openhanced Location Starter Kit Layar web service script
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, Blog, Mobile, Open Source by openhanced on April 16, 2010 | No Comments
After feedback from @swinnenstijn I realized there can be a problem when a Layar is configured without categories or maybe with the wrong ones. To solve this we changed the script so that you don’t need to specify a Layar filter. Right after configuring a Layar it should work.
Download the zip file, unzip it and change some db details on line 4-7. After that you can upload it to your webservice folder.
Download latest full version | Download updated Layar web service script
Overall
When you start with the OHLSK make sure to create categories first and then add POI’s to these categories.
Small changes in Layar web service script
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, Blog, Mobile, Open Source, iPhone by openhanced on April 13, 2010 | No Comments
OHLSK (Openhanced Location Starter Kit)
After some serious debugging last two days (thanks Josh) we have changed a few things in the script that is called by Layar. These changes are also finalized in the full version.
Please only download the update if you already have the full version installed, upload and overwrite webservice/layarpoints.php in your server but make sure to change the DB details for your situation!!!
Download latest full version | Download updated Layar web service script
On top of that we also show you a little more on what to do inside Layar to get it working.
In your Layar filter settings make sure that you have 1 Range Slider and one set of Radio buttons. The values of the radiobutton set need to match the Category ID of the OHLSK.
Above screen is the category list in the OHLSK solution.
Small bug in the Location Starter Kit
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, Blog, LBS, iPhone by openhanced on April 11, 2010 | No Comments
We discovered a small bug in the setup procedure for the Location Starter Kit (thanks Josh for the feedback). This bug writes the wrong username in the webservice/layarpoints.php file. Make sure that your db username on line 16 in this file is correct.
A Layar to show leisure/sports activities and an interview with GPSies.com owner
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, Blog, iPhone by openhanced on April 7, 2010 | No Comments
Besides building a freemium version of a Layar backend (to host your datapoints) we also joint forces with GPSies.com to bring you 300000 leisure/sports tracks from most countries in the world.
With the Layar you can find the start points of the tracks and advanced track, elevation and weather data.
Right now the database contains around 300000 + points and it is growing on a weekly basis. We will update our clone of the GPSies.com database once a week to bring you all the new tracks.
Interview with Klaus Bechtold of GPSies.com
What is your name and origin?
My name is Klaus Bechtold and I’m living in Berlin, Germany. I’m married and I do have two children. GPSies.com is just a hobby besides my job as a software developer at an internet agency in Berlin.
What is the goal of your company GPSies.com?
The goal of GPSies .com is to help everyone to plan and document their tracks. The focus is on the GPS technology and I tried to implement a simple user interface. So users without a GPS background can e.g. easy use the converter (automatically file detection) or the track creator.
Do you have a long history in sports activities and what is your favorite sport?
My first marathon was in 1998 – so I’m an enthusiastic runner. And I’m a cyclist in summer, when I’m riding from home to work. Sometimes I’m on trekking tour with my family – never without GPS 
How did you come up with the idea of GPSies.com?
I bought my first running GPS device in 2006. The device was very expensive and my wife did not allow me to buy additional maps to document my running tracks. Exactly at this time Google launched the version 2 of Google Maps – so I started some experiments to plot a GPS track on the map. Because I made it public, I received many positive feedback from the community – so, here we are!
How much visitors does your site attract on a monthly base?
GPSies.com has about 300.000 visitors with about 1.4 million page impressions. In summer 2010 I’m expecting about 2 million PIs. The community has now more than 50.000 registered users and it is growing very fast. All statistics (tracks, users, countries and so on) are public and are accessible by the footer navigation.
How much tracks are there in your database worldwide?
GPSies.com has about 340.000 tracks worldwide (March 2010, public and private tracks). Most of them are in Europe and especially Germany (170.000 tracks).
But GPSies.com has also tracks in USA (8.000), Russia (7.000) – see the statistics to get it all.
How do you see the future for the site?
My plans are to force the mobile accessabilities of GPSies.com. GPSies.com has already a mobile site (m.gpsies.com) and many devices (Andoid, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and so on) are using the API to get tracks in an area or upload tracks to GPSies.com. I’ll open GPSies.com as a plattform for any mobile devices to let them store thier tracks.
GPSies.com is growing very fast. As you know, it is just my hobby site and I don’t earn my money by GPSies.com. My wife and my children are fighting for more time to spend with me. Ok, I’m getting a small income by the advertisement, but this is totally used to pay for the infrastructure (server, administrator, …). I don’t know what happens next – I try to carry on
Do you foresee a great future for Augmented Reality?
Yes indeed! This is a great opportunity to get much information within an intuitive and easy to use interface. Smartphone software like Layar is just the beginning. Later we’ll have e.g. glasses with GPS, compass and internet access like in some SF movies.
Is there anything else you want to add to this short interview?
Yes, I’d like to mention, that GPSies.com has also an Android version that let you view tracks by your search parameters. The app is free and available at the Google Market.
Last but not least, don’t forget to go outside and have fun with your outdoor exercises!
Launch of the Openhanced Location Starter Kit with #Layar functionality
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, Blog, Mobile, iPhone by openhanced on April 6, 2010 | No Comments
NEWS: Openhanced is releasing a new Sports/freetime activity Layar next week in cooperation with a German company. Above 300000 tracks listed worldwide including elevation/weather data.
We are, as planned, delivering the Location Starter kit to provide individuals and organizations with a solution that can be used in combination with mobile applications like Layar.
The development of this solution has taken a while and this Freemium version is the blue print for our GEO Data warehouse where people with different roles can manage location content in a user friendly way. Our first goal is to make the solution available to anyone who is interested in location oriented solutions.
For us Layar is the showcase application that we use a lot to provide people with an awesome demo. However, Openhanced is involved in several Enterprise location based solutions for users or employees. To fulfill end user solutions you need a flexible backend for demonstrations.
Some information before you start the download
As with every software solutions and deciding on releases and time frames there are a few small minor issues, mostly related to validation during installation:
- The install wizard can one click install but make sure all your MySQL details are correct;
- Double-check if you need the special 755 permissions on the mentioned files;
- Get a Google Maps key that is needed for the location picker.
Scalability
The backend location management system is built on PHP and MySQL and can be used in a live production environment if needed. We use it for a few solutions that serve a quarter of a million data points and we think that is still fine performance wise.
Downloading and unpacking
You can download the solution here. Make sure after downloading to unpack the zip file and to upload it to your PHP/MySQL server. Call the install.htm through your browser after uploading.
To get help before you upload and install visit our extensive online help.
EU VAT check Mobile Web Application (mowapp)
Posted in: Android, Mobile, Mobile Web Applications, iPhone by openhanced on April 2, 2010 | No Comments
Click here for the URL.
All companies in Europe officially need to check the VAT id of the partners/suppliers they work with, till now that has been difficult to do.
That changes from now on, we just have released a Mobile Web Application to check VAT numbers for the following countries:
- Netherlands
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Spain
- Finland
- France
- Great Britain
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Latvia
- Malta
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Sweden
- Slovenia
- Slovakia
The mobile browser based application is usable on the Android an iPhone devices but you can also use it on the desktop on a Safari browser.
It is our aim to provide businesses worldwide with vertical applications on mobile devices.
The data is provided by the EU and a wrapper web service is developed by http://isvat.appspot.com/
The Layar Open Source creation tool will be released next week, the name is OHLSK.
Posted in: Android, Augmented Reality, Blog, Mobile, Open Source by openhanced on March 26, 2010 | 1 Comment
Right now OHLSK is the short name for Openhanced Location Starter Kit. It can be used as a backend for any mobile location client but right now it supports Layar out of the box.
In between business – we are working on: a big sports activity Layar, location based SMS services, mobile app., several new Mobile 2.0 concepts – i’m glad to say that there has been a lot of progress in the OHLSK. We needed to extract a Freemium set of capabilities from the total solution and that has gone well. Below are some screenshots of the final Freemium solution:
There are some things still to add or change:
- creation of Layar actions in multiple languages;
- authentication;
- spatial search optimization;
- URI types.
However, these are minor changes and it will not postpone the release. The release will contain extensive help on how to configure and install the solution on your own PHP/MySQL environment.
The total solution (with more capabilities) that we are working on serves as a base backend for all our concepts and projects in the future.