Our latest app for Tate is finally out!

For all the lowdown, skivvy, details and download links go here:

MAGIC TATE BALL

Making of, interviews, concept sketches and much more to come. Watch this space!

**this article was updated on 25/4/12 after the good people from Insiteo and Polestar got in touch! If you would like to add to this article please contact George Rowe**

Why is indoor gelocation so hard? GPS, as you probably know, uses signals constantly transmitted by satellites in orbit round the earth to calculate your position. These signals contain the exact time the signal was transmitted and where the satellite was when it sent the signal, and your device uses the time it takes for four or more of these to reach you to trilaterate your location.

Unfortunately, these signals aren’t powerful enough to penetrate anything thicker than the tin roof of your Ford Capri. On the ground floor of that TATE Modern that just ain’t gonna cut it. How can we possibly work out where we are without the aid of US-owned celestial bodies?

One method is WiFi fingerprinting: your device measures the signal strength of any WiFi networks in range and, along with cartographical knowledge of these network, uses that to calculate position. The accuracy depends on a range of factors (walls, amount of people in the room), and anything from 3 to 10m is generally claimed.

However, fingerprinting requires a costly and time consuming signal strength calibration at the kick off. Plus, Apple don’t currently allow an open API for WiFi fingerprinting, so for app development that’s pretty much out the window.

Let’s take a lot at some current technologies for Indoor Geolocation:

1. NAO Campus, by Polestar

Coming straight out of Toulouse, the NAO Campus software uses WiFi fingerprinting, any weak GPS available and a map of the interior to deliver accuracy between 2 – 5 metres in less than a second (so they claim). Polestar are strangely silent on how they deal with common person/wall density problems, though.

Jean Baptiste from Polestar told Thought Den: “At this stage our positioning database is built based on a Wi-Fi survey completed on field. We developed and patented a tool suite that enables extremely fast deployments, with very high cost effectiveness. So no problem of wall density because fingerprints are live fingerprints, not simulations.

Regarding people, we developed algorithms that are tolerant to a given range of errors in RSSI measures, giving us the ability to deliver the expected quality of service to our customers. It is live e.g. in the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, in the Les Quatre Temps mall etc. We have been granted these contracts after hard selections processes in which we have been benchmarked against competition.”

PROS: seamless indoor/outdoor transition
CONS: needs a 3D map and positioning database, could be expensive, proprietary, no mention of how it deals with traditional problems of indoor geolocation

Another update from Jean Baptiste: “even images picked up on the internet are sufficient. We georeference them in order to keep consistency with GPS. It is very low cost! Our deployment suite enables using third party maps from our network of partners (Navteq maps through our Visioglobe partner, Micello maps etc.”

2. Indoor GNSS, by Insiteo

Another French offering; their quite badly translated site lends them an air of mystique. Insiteo’s standard offering seems to be very similar to NAO Campus but just using WiFi, and a spokesman from Insiteo tweeted us “Our indoor positioning is currently at 2m and is iPhone compatible. We have a portfolio of different systems.”

More interesting is their Indoor GNSS, an in-development system that uses ‘StarBoxes’ placed inside the building to retransmit GPS and Galileo signals. They claim precision under 1 metre and that no map or calibration is needed.

PROS: super accurate, super fast
CONS: requires purchase and installation of StarBoxes, could be very expensive, in development

3. Skyhook Wireless Location, by Skyhook

One of the original geolocation players, and used by big boys like Layar, MapQuest, Grindr, HP, Dell and a whole host of other peoples. Using a hybrid of WiFi fingerprinting (with an existing database of over 700 million access points and cell towers) and weak GPS it can tell you where you are within 10 metres, 99.8% of the time. Though this might not sound impressive, these results apply both indoors and in densely populated areas. (You can even add your own here).

PROS: Free SDK!, seamless indoor/outdoor, proven technology
CONS: No iOS, not that accurate.

SkyHook coverage in the South West

4. Meridian App, by Spotlight Mobile

“Designed for inaccuracy” doesn’t sound like a selling point, but CTO Nick Farina has a point; indoor geolocation just isn’t that good. Meridian’s novel approach acknowledges this and uses weak GPS and mapping combined with an interface that easily lets users update their position themselves based on what they can see. As a standalone app, however, its scope is fairly limited beyond finding your way around a building.

PROS: novel approach
CONS: erm…what about the geolocation bit?

5. Cisco MSE, by Cisco

Cisco 3300 Series Mobility Services Engine is more than a location service, it’s also a WiFi network, context aware software and an wireless intrusion prevention system. Though a Cisco representative couldn’t disclose accuracy details to Thought Den (he wasn’t ‘technical’), it has been used effectively already in an AR app in Copenhagen airport. The MSE software (with an open API) trilaterates the signals from the MSE network to get your fix.

PROS: works!
CONS: expensive, useless outside MSE network

(For some older tech you can see also Microsoft RADAR and AT&T Active Bat.)

…and isn’t to mention the big G. After geting through all that password stealing trouble a while back, Google are rather dominating the market with Android’s location services (both GPS and WiFi fingerprinting), thought they seem to have terminated the available source code for WiFi positioning due a “weird problem”.

Here at Thought Den we’re getting excited about an RFID system we’re developing – the big win is flexibility combined with a reasonably low cost. The biggest challenge is accuracy and reliability at high volume usage. We’ll keep you posted!

There are plenty more technologies out there; this is just the tip of the iceberg. Choosing which is right for you is going to depend on how much you are willing to spend, what the currently available infrastructure is in the building in which you are working, how accurate you need to be, and a host of other factors. Indoor, reliable, accurate geolocation is certainly getting closer, but the tech isn’t quite there yet.

The Webby Awards are a leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet. With over 10,000 entrants from all 50 states of the US and 60 other countries besides, the 2012 awards has had a record number of attendance for categories in Websites, Interactive Advertising & Media, Online Film & Video and Mobile & Apps.

The top 15% of entrants are recognised as Honourees and ARTIST ROOMS: The Game, which we created for Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland, has been selected as one of these.

Our direction from the outset was to combine the learning objectives of Young Tate with some top notch playability. After 6 months, 200 artworks and 60 hours of 3D modelling the game was born; a series of wickedfun™ minigames mimicking the challenges of a gallery curator. Players also get the chance to create their own 3D gallery with 5 of their favourite artworks at the end. Play it now.

We are chuffed; past winners include big boys like Twitter, Google, eBay, Yahoo!, iTunes, Skype, FedEx, BBC News, CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, Aol, Tumblr, Wikipedia, ESPN, Funny or Die, Comedy Central, PBS, The Huffington Post, the Sundance Channel, and The Onion.

Sites and apps are selected for recognition based on excellence in the following criteria (but not limited to): content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity and overall experience.

You can view our listing on the Webby Awards site here.

Last week the West of England Design Forum (a.k.a. WEDF) put together a highly inspirational series of events called “Five Days of Design”. Not ones to mince their words, the week would have pleased every design lover, practitioner, hobbyist, professional, student, freelancer and small business alike.

The one event I want to talk to you about was the last of the series, which took place on a sunny Friday afternoon at the Arnolfini. Called “The Future is Bright”, it was an insightful and detailed look at the importance of design in everything.

The first of the eight speakers was David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council. He spoke about the meaning of design, its importance and its role in business. We also learned a few fun-facts; the most innovative country in Europe is Switzerland, and the UK has its largest design sector with 250,000 designers (that’s 100,000 more people than the population of my hometown btw…)

Craig Wightman (Design Director at Kinneir Dufort) was the next speaker who revealed that design’s duty is to get the difficulties caused by technology out of the way, so the user can concentrate on the product itself (see upcoming Thought Den project Magic Tate Ball – BT). He also talked about the importance of experience and research but, for me, the most interesting part was his little equation:

innovation + design = making ideas happen.

Up next, Prof. David May from the Department of Computer Science at Bristol Uni (who’s a technophobe) presented an interesting approach on how technology has become a fashion thing these days, and as a result design is more important to science and technology than ever before.

After that Bonnie Dean, Chief Executive of the Bristol and Bath Science Park, shared the values that her new Park holds to anyone who wants to use it; providing the space for science and design to meet.

Then, a short break! And a long overdue browse through Arnolfini’s bookstore.

Peter Madden from Forum for the Future gave the next lecture about how businesses can reduce the unpredictability of the future by planning, how they can do this and how to apply planning positively to business.

Peter Signfield, a lawyer, then discussed how law is always one step behind design, and that despite the present issues with copyright (see Apple, Samsung et al) it will make things easier in the future.

The next speaker’s fascinating Scottish (I think) accent was beyond my capability of understanding as a foreigner, which is a shame as he spoke very passionately about user centric design. He was Andy Walters, a senior researcher at the National Centre for Product Design and Development Research (evidently didn’t think about foreign users when designing he talk. HA! – ed).

And the last lecturer Michael Thomson proved that there are loads of opportunities for small companies and how design can help in taking advantage of those opportunities.

To sum up the event, I think all the speakers depicted a brighter future for design and a brighter future because of design. Design has much more to it than people think (in fact it has much more to it than I thought, as a designer) and it still doesn’t really get the attention it deserves. As one of the speakers said, design is still not part of any kind of business studies despite the fact it’s one of the most important aspects of running a business.

All in all I can safely say that my take on design has been broadened largely (see the above [very] technical diagram).

If a painful familiarity with the 6 Nations’ Wooden Spoon is anything to go by, you’d be forgiven for overlooking Scotland when it comes to digital innovation hubs. But Hadrian’s Wall delineates more than a penchant for sheep entrails; as the money pots of England dry up in these austere times of tightening Tory purse-strings, Scotland is in rude health when it comes to R&D handouts. Let us not forget this country, still blighted by deep fried stereotypes, hosts the world’s largest arts festival.

NESTA, Creative Scotland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have pooled their resources and come up with half a million quid. This funding lovechild has a name befitting of its somewhat schizophrenic parental tryptic : hereby presenting the NESTA Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, Scotland.

Why were Thought Den involved?

Thought Den’s involvement, without wanting to confuse the situation further, was to provide inspiration and perspective given our non-Scottish, non-London and pro-culture agenda. For more on what we’re doing with arts and cultural organisations go clicking mad : Tate, Wildscreen, National Galleries of Scotland, Southbank Centre and Bristol Museum.

In a whistlestop 20 minutes I tried to convey what we learned in pursuit of entertainment, education and innovation for the cultural sector. The first bit is great fun, exploring the content and expanding the possibilities, then it gets tough, stripping it back to find the essence of an idea. Prototyping is the fun bit again, testing testing testing! And then back to the hard graft of refinement and polish. This entire process is predicated on:

4 Important Things (that aren’t crap)

1. Audience – Get to know them, personally. What else do they like and what do they want. Let them play with stuff.
2. Content – This is what often defines the institution, so find the stories, play with the friction points, mine the hidden gems
3. Context – Not just physically (where and when does this designed experience happen?) but socially, politically, other influencing factors
4. Technology – The real challenge is to make it human! We are sophisticated creatures, but incredibly fickle. Simple wins.

Over the last fortnight I have spoken at three events in Scotland, taking in Perth, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Though largely delivering the same schtick each time, it was incredible how different the three events were. In honour of Scotland’s alleged status as the binge capital of Europe, each event is briefly summarised in drinking metaphor:

Perth; imagine a late afternoon buffet at the beautiful country house of a rich a relative; distant cousins pulled from across the country, but conversation a little awkward and not quite enough alcohol.

Glasgow was the after-work drink session that gradually gets rowdy; the cheeky half that becomes a full-throttled debate.

Edinburgh had the feel of a swanky cocktail party, everyone on best behaviour, but surreptitiously searching over their bone-china teacups for an excuse to loosen their ties.

Unsurprisingly Glasgow was the best event and hosted at the Scottish Youth Theatre. Apart from the subtle smell of sweaty thespians, it was a great afternoon, lots of healthy discussion following the presentations, and a real sense of excitement among the delegates. This was in part because of the people that attended, but also the room layout. Haphazard ten-to-a-table groups trumps raked seating any day.

So what’s going down up there?

Among many others, I talked with a team looking to establish the world’s first comprehensive digital circus skills program, an architect with an incredible iPad prototype and the marketing manager of The Arches, Glasgow’s answer to the Watershed. This place is an epic underground art’s centre-club-theatre with sticky floors, cavernous ceilings and bargain nachos.

With fantastic workspaces such as SocietyM (a hot hatch with racing stripes to the PMStudio‘s Audio estate) and modest movers and shakers like Suzy Glass (Trigger, Sync) and Rohan Gunatillake (Culture Hack, Buddhist Geeks) Glasgow seems like the place to be right now. Incidentally, Channel 4 appointed Colin Macdonald as their first Head of Commissioning for Games, based primarily in Glasgow. That image is a giant anglepoise lamp. What’s not to like!?

Despite the confusing and overly complicated arrangement of money pots, sub-programmes, support workshops and offshoot schemes, you’ve got to applaud how determined Scotland is to support innovation in their booming arts, culture and digital sectors. Behind the array of glitzy Powerpoint presentations is a funding programme with innovation at its heart and a very real desire to give arts and cultural organisations the support they need to flourish in a world of 140 character news flashes, fart apps and F******k.

PS – After the talks I thought I’d step into infinity. It was pretty cool. Camera Obscura in Edinburgh is a place of magic, mirrors, lasers and vortexes. Excellent fun and nicely topped up the inspiration juices.