Augmented Reality for Airsoft

[Airbana]

Armed with my Android phone I tested out my latest side project at First and Only's 'The Mall' skirmish site yesterday.

 

All you need to use this app is an Android or iPhone with a GPRS (or better) connection and for maximum accuracy clear access to GPS signals.

 

Once complete it will be free to download, use etc etc.

 

The following screenshots show functionality of the Augmented Reality App with a (low quality) video showing it in action.

 

Obviously it is designed for use in larger outdoor areas where the objectives may be 100's of meters away or a woodland site where it may be easy to get turned around.

 

As this app utilises a centralised web based backend the objectives can change throughout the day (triggered by time, proximity or manual intervention) allowing it to be an integral part of the briefing process / Milsim.

 

Let me know what you think about this. Will no one use it? Would you like to try out a Beta version? Get in touch via PM or Gareth@Airbana.net

 

Augmented Reality:

This screenshot is simulated because I forgot to take this type of screen shot whilst I was on site

 

 

Map View / Tactical Overview:

 

Points of Interest List View (With contextual photo):

Useful for capture the object i.e briefcase or whatnot

 

IFF Transponders Active:

This is simulated as I'm the only one with the app on their phone - in reality you'd only be able to see your own team unless you were a Marshall

 

A Video of it in action:

[spetsnazdave87]

I appreciate the effort to which youve gone dude, but this is possibly a step too far

[mattmanic]

What is the range of it's recognition? Ie. How far away does it work? Does it work when you're running? What's wrong with just using a flag?

[Bachelarius]

As far as the idea goes, this is fantastic stuff. When I heard of the AugReality stuff on android, I immediately thought of this sort of application. However the limits of the tech are somewhat obvious, with the flag wobbling all over the place and generally being slow to lock on. I think incorporating phones into a skirmish design is not the best idea as it limits the scope of the game and forces the player to use tech. Instead however, using it to enhance the users' abilities is definitely the way to go.

 

So, what I would do is make the aug reality stuff a side bit, used only to point you in the right direction. Instead, focus on team-mate location, like that redwolf motion tracker thing did, but add dynamic way-pointing as well. No need to bother with path-finding unless you have perfect scale maps, but even then, it will take a lot of coding to be efficient. The way-pointing can be as simple as a dot on the map or as complex as multi-point paths. You could work in basic squad features into it as well, sending instructions for 1 squad to go this way, another to go that... With those features, a mil sim day or weekender could be amazing! And again, you can use the augmented reality feature to point the user in the right direction of a waypoint...

 

Just ideas really, Don't want to derail your project, but something like that would be amazing

[Jon L]

Well better and cheaper than the one on redwolf, but i think that it would be limited to being used on very large sites such as groundzero where, if you do not know the site, even the map provided does not help much. Good idea, but at the same rate, not everyone has a phone capable of using the program, so its limiting in that sense. But good idea

[TBoy25596]

good stuff, if I had an iPhone/Android thing then i'd give it a go.

 

was wondering how well it would work in the basement at The Mall though, or bunker sites, I presume it loses the connection.

 

for milsim I can see many uses but i dont think it's suited to skirmishing quite yet.

[Airbana]

@spetsnazdave87 - I met a guy with some rather expensive NVG gear on Sunday so I'm not so sure there is such a thing as 'too far' in Airsoft these days

 

@mattmanic - The range is unlimited because the phone does a RESTful HTTP POST containing your current GPS co-ordinates and then the Airbana backend sends back the pertinant data points.

 

@Bachelarius - Unfortunately this is merely an extension of the Layar platform so unless they allow child process spawning (i.e launching a 3rd party intent in Android language) the way pointing idea wouldn't be possible.

 

The main idea is to allow people to find and visualise the direction of objectives as well as their current status (since it's all a common backend the color of the flags (or any icon) for a particular objective can change depending on which team is gegraphically closest / whether the objective has been acheived) at larger events like Milsim weekenders or simply find their way around at the larger sites. In theory you only need one person per squad to have the device.

 

@Jon L - being free does make it quite competetive on the price front. Whilst it is a shame that it'll only be usable by those with iPhones and androids they are quite popular handsets and they are quite cheap (androids from £35 a month including minutes and texts etc).

 

@TBoy25596 - Indeed, it's unlikely to be too useful in the usual 45mins per scenario skirmishes but in an episodic / weekender milsim it could be invaluable espescially on the larger sites. Unfortunately it doesn't work well at all if it can't get GPRS / GPS signal.

 

----

 

Thanks for the comments everyone, I'm glad that Airbana continues to work on projects that people enjoy to see and could / do make use of.

[Megalomaniac]

My worst fear using this app would be damage to my Droid, as I'm currently unaware of any ballistic covers that still allow touch screen function.

[Chilvers]

@spetsnazdave87 That's rich coming from a guy whose team rocked up at copehill with an ice cream van that we weren't allowed to shoot with twin linked M249s and thermal imaging or whatever. Banter? BANTER BANTER!

 

@airbana Any plans for releasing the API for the server side of this? I had a similar idea but can't be bothered to set up that many twitter accounts...

[Airbana]

@Chilvers - Yes. It will be part of the main Airbana API allowing both read and write once it's done.

[jagillham]

Looks amazing. Any support for Nokia N97?....please

[ErikBobbo]

I'm not 100% sure how this works, but it seems it's based on geographic data (location, direction etc) and not on visual symbols or anything? If I understand, it's possible to connect all devices on a "battlefield", and share information? Could the game masters change the status of a objective and send it to everyone on one team, or maybe even commanders could set out objectives themselves?

[Phoenix]

Great for sending objectives to separated teams in the field, bad for, oh i dunno, people updating facebook and twitter every 5 minutes with their kills and whatnot.

[Airbana]

@jagillham - Apologies - it's only available for iPhone and Android at the moment

 

@ErikBobbo - Indeed, it takes your current GPS co-ordinates sends them to the server which then returns the points in a given radius. The inbuilt compass in the device then decides what to show on the screen based on the direction you are facing. As it is powered by a centralised web based backend the objectives can be changed, removed or new ones added. These can't be 'pushed' to the devices but the moment the change is made it is available to the devices if they press 'Refresh'

 

@Phoenix - Facebook and Twitter are everywhere.....

[Snyper]

It's an interesting concept, but I'm not 100% sure how useful it'll be (not at the present stage). Do you really want your swanky smart phone shot to hell during an airsoft game?

 

That said, I could definitely see how this could progress. The question is can you make it work on devices without requiring communication to the back end server (i.e. make the app independant of the server that works out where you are in the world)?

[l85 guy]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/01/gun-mount-and-s/

 

Anyone else think of that when they saw this? I think it would work well, although, I don't really want to buy an Iphone just for airsoft

[faramon]

Do you know if this is Win Mobile possible?

 

I like the idea of this it sounds pretty damn good with the locations of friendly being on a big picture scale site incredibly useful.

 

Plus if you could add tags to people .. ring them for a sit rep?

[Apocalypsemeow]

This would be kinda awesome if I didn't have a windows phone

[faramon]

This would be kinda awesome if I didn't have a windows phone

 

Oh SHNAP

 

As soon as I can install Android onto a HTC HD2 I shall be damn well doing that *suitcase*

[Apocalypsemeow]

Oh SHNAP

 

As soon as I can install Android onto a HTC HD2 I shall be damn well doing that *suitcase*

 

A truer thing has never been said, exact same phone as I have in my pocket!

Love the hardware, wish it had android though

[Stealthbomber]

I always think this sort of thing has huge potential BUT it'll always rely on people to actually come up with game ideas that support it well.

 

If it wasn't implimented properly you could end up with a situation where teams shamble about all day, following the directions on their phones, and never actually meet up so they can shoot toy guns at one another.

In effect, airsoft could turn into orienteering with guns.

[faramon]

^^ there is a little bit of light I just looked and there are 2 augmented reality apps in the works for Win mobile one appears to be released but I can't find a download and the other just isn't ready yet.

 

OMPASS World Cities is the one that maybe out some where >.<