Having tried for a prolonged period to get location via ibeacon working, with disappointing results (more about that in a future post), I've decided to give Google's fuse location service a try. Going down the beacon route wouldn't have been my first choice, but internal politics had, at the time, made using Google services all but impossible.
Before investing too much time on fuse location I have decided to test how effective it is in three already mapped locations, Waterloo railway station, John Lewis Oxford Street, and the British museum. The environment that I am developing for is probably closer to John Lewis, but testing a range of environments seems to be the best idea.
Location isn't the only issue I need to consider, platform is possibly more important, in particular the possibility of a system that can be used on a number of platforms, so for these tests I am using both an iPhone 5s and a Nexus 5.
The first environment tested in is Waterloo railway station, chosen in part because this is the station I come into every day. On arriving at the concourse I opened Google maps on the Nexus 5, and was immediately concerned and disappointed, the starting location that the Nexus gave me was at the far end of platform 1, almost the entire station away from where I was standing. Now I must disclose that the Nexus is the phone I currently use as my primary phone, and I know that my experience of mobile coverage using this phone at this location is often disappointing, so until I have tested this at all three locations I'll reserve judgement.
The iPhone however, bearing in mind that it was using the Nexus as a mobile hotspot, was very impressive, tracking my journey from one end of the concourse to the other with a consistent margin of only a couple of metres, and that margin was always the same bearing from where I stood. The location refresh was also very impressive, being almost real-time.
So in summary, ignoring the Nexus 5 for now, fuse location at Waterloo was very impressive, and definitely something that can be worked with. Next stop John Lewis Oxford Street.
Arriving at John Lewis and all concerns about the Nexus were blown away, using the in store WiFi on both phones, the position was tracked with a similar accuracy to that seen on the iPhone at Waterloo. Transitioning between floors was automatic for the Nexus, the iPhone needs you to select the floor your on, and apart from the third floor, I'm guessing the WiFi mapping might have been either in incomplete or out of date, neither phone skipped a beat.
In summary, at John Lewis, fuse location service behaved exactly as you'd want and expect it to, only gripe with the Nexus is that in Google maps the internal maps 'felt' zoomed in too much, an issue I don't expect to effect any apps written on the platform, using the fuse location service. Next stop the British museum.
Final stop on this fact finding mission, the British museum, and the one that I had been looking forward to, what a disappointment. Initially all looked as good as before, but as soon as you leave the central court yard the problems rapidly become apparent, art, antiquities and technology really do not mix.
Basically, for fuse location to have a fighting chance of giving an accurate position indoors it needs a decent Wi-Fi signal, and at the British museum Wi-Fi can be best described as patchy. Looking out for Wi-Fi access points, you fast realise that there don't appear to be any, I can only surmise that those running the museum did not want their exhibition spaces 'blighted' by unsightly tech, what a shame.
So to summarise, as an example of the fused location service, the British museum sucks. However in general across the three environments, the service works incredibly well, and as far as my requirements are concerned this will be the solution I'll be using in the project I'm currently working on.
No comments:
Post a Comment