GPS Talk!

Frannyman · 11-10-06, 05:31 AM

Hi guys!

I've been visiting the GPS Talk forum for some time already and though I can't deny I'm now a helluva lot more confused about the subject than I was before, I can't also deny that it's being a helluva lot of fun... :)

Alright then, the other day I suddenly found myself daydreaming about the subject... have you ever heard about Head Mounted Displays?

There are several pages with info and products...

Check this and this for example.

I mean check this people!! they are really having fun!!!

Even Gary Kasparov wears them!

OK... this guy is not wearing a head mounted display, but he is certainly wearing glasses AND having fun...

Well, the ones that really catched my eye are those of this kind.

It's some glasses you wear like sun glasses but you get to see the display of some device like in thin air. Quite awesome right? Well, I've been thinking about attaching a PDA with a GPS to one of these. It would be real neat.

I toyed around with the idea of having such a treat and how neat it would be and such when everything started to go all wild in my mind...

How about if this lenses came with stereoscopic display abilities, emulating real 3D images, like the Virtual Boy used to do? they could make something very similar to a holographic image... think about it. The bad thing is that the holographic image, like say, an arrow, would obviously move as you move your head... though you could tell what distance is it from you and estimate how big it is by looking at it.

OK, so that takes us back to the GPS thing. I really have no clue how it works or anything like it, but it's rather interesting to think about it anyway... If this headset could be GPS enabled and could be loaded with maps of cities and such, It could perhaps place our arrow exactly in the corner we had to turn on when we are driving.

And could place other holograms in an exact position and altitude and stuff and perhaps you could see holographic images of other pople and stuff!!

Perhaps you could log to your favorite instant messaging service and put the glasses on, click on Real Time Virtual Reality 3D GPS Enabled Boom Babalooba Chat Session and voila! your girlfriend appears out of thin air in your living room!

And what comes next?? Contacts! and we'll eventually get to live in an holographic world with everyone you love by your side and nice trees and bees and flowers.... and you go to Virtual Forums where you don't really post, but it's something more like having everybody crammed up somewhere and since it's holographic and all you don't see the people but their avatars with full motion and such. And also there would be virtual people that don't really exist but are computer programs that only live in the Real Time Virtual Reality 3D GPS Enabled Boom Babalooba world.

And then one day after several years people take their contacts out and realize the world has gone all crazy and that everything is all sorrow and ugly and stuff....

errr.... well... I guess it was enough already... I just wanted to share this thoughts with you guys...

I REALLY need to get some sleep now!

psionandy · 11-10-06, 03:22 PM

Fantastic pics....
Not sure if i'd be brave enough to go out like that in public....

Zaniax · 11-10-06, 03:27 PM

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Pebu · 11-10-06, 03:35 PM

They're having fun... And looking good while doing it!!

Just stopped and read the post...
Quick fix (as long as we're dreaming...) for the head turning issue is gyroscopes. There was a thread on here some time with a link to a youtube video about a guy who attached a camera on gyros to a r/c helecopter and had a headset on his head. He flew the helecopter like normal, but if he moved his head the camera would move the same direction. That could be adapted, but when you move your head, the image would move the opposite direction. Yeah baby :)

Frannyman · 11-10-06, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by Pebu

There was a thread on here some time with a link to a youtube video about a guy who attached a camera on gyros to a r/c helecopter and had a headset on his head. He flew the helecopter like normal, but if he moved his head the camera would move the same direction. That could be adapted, but when you move your head, the image would move the opposite direction. Yeah baby :)

hey that sounds real neat... I have to check that video out. But what I was thinking about was something more like a real-world-integrated holographic virtual reality made possible thanks to top notch Real Time Virtual Reality 3D GPS Enabled Boom Babalooba technology or something like that. Interacting in real life with virtual objects that aren't really there... like a keyboard and such... or seeing structures through walls, or other people suscribed to the service... the people not subscribed wouldn't be visible though walls, don't ask me why, it just makes sense to me... perhaps, if he has another GPS unit and belongs to your contact list you could just see his name behind the wall, but then the other guy might wanna sue you for privacy and intimacy vilations and a bunch of other stuff because he wasn't supposed to be there or something, so it would be better if you could turn on and off you being seen through walls feature on and off at will.... wait... what where we talking about??

Pebu · 11-10-06, 04:39 PM

gps combined with gyros make it possible. It would know exactly where you are and exactly which way you're looking, so from that it would extrapolate what should be on the screen. Then you'd have some sort of input where you'd chose what you're looking at.. Say you want a keyboard, so you sit down at a desk and select "keyboard" somehow and it asks you where to locate it, so you locate it on the desk, then wherever you look, there will still be a keyboard on that desk... Until you turn off the keyboard feature.
(typing with your hands is a whole lot faster than trying to type with your eyes... try it, I dare you)

You're tryin it, aren't you? :D

Frannyman · 11-10-06, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by Pebu

gps combined with gyros make it possible. It would know exactly where you are and exactly which way you're looking, so from that it would extrapolate what should be on the screen. Then you'd have some sort of input where you'd chose what you're looking at.. Say you want a keyboard, so you sit down at a desk and select "keyboard" somehow and it asks you where to locate it, so you locate it on the desk, then wherever you look, there will still be a keyboard on that desk...

Oooooh... yeah! now I get the point. The GPS thing knows where you are and tells the computer where to put the stuff you are going to use, the gyroscope mechanism tells it where you are looking at so it knows what and how to display the elements on the stereoscopic seethrough head mounted display. Sounds real sexy to me. What kind of computer do you think we'll need to pull this baby out?

We still need some sort of stereoscopic camera to tell the computer in real time what's nearby and where your hands are for interacting with the virtual menus and keyboards and so on.

Originally Posted by Pebu

You're tryin it, aren't you?

No Pebu, I might be a bit long-sighted, but my eyes are just not long enough to press the keys...

Zaniax · 11-10-06, 08:47 PM

Some ten years ago I've been working with a (heavy) stereo head display.
At that time you had to use 2 monitor cards to get a stereo view - difficult !
The position sensors were placed on the wall and the ceiling so you could only move within a very limited range.

The system was used for optaining a PhD degree in the uni where I worked.

Memories ... :p

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Frannyman · 11-11-06, 12:55 AM

Originally Posted by Zaniax

Some ten years ago I've been working with a (heavy) stereo head display.
At that time you had to use 2 monitor cards to get a stereo view - difficult !
The position sensors were placed on the wall and the ceiling so you could only move within a very limited range.

The system was used for optaining a PhD degree in the uni where I worked.

Memories ... :p

oh cool! what was your PhD in? You must do something really interesting for a living...

It would be real neat to get a degree on something like "Unwearable huge nausea inducing helmets".

Zaniax · 11-11-06, 01:53 AM

Originally Posted by Frannyman

oh cool! what was your PhD in?

Oh, no ... not me

I'm an electronic engineer, now (re)tired, and was involved in the project because of a hardware error that was about to spoil the whole project schedule.

Sorry for the unclear sentence ...

I fixed the problem and the system was real fun to play with :approve:

Originally Posted by Frannyman

You must do something really interesting for a living...

Here is a very brief CV

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Frannyman · 11-12-06, 05:16 PM

gosh... what can't you do...?

I've been researching on this stuff... what we are talking about has a name, it's called Augmented Reality.

EDIT: And very silly nausea inducing helmets...