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Gaming With GPS On Your Smartphone
Barence writes "If your handset doesn't get you out and about, tramping through mud, climbing around and hunting for hidden treasure, then something needs an upgrade. The iPhone, Blackberry's Storm and Bold lines, and many Symbian and Android handsets, now sport GPS, which makes your smartphone the ticket to join a global movement of outdoor games. These are outbound challenges that pit teams and solo players against themselves and each other in the search for hidden treasure, undiscovered landmarks, and hidden spots all over the world. This article delves into several of the best smartphone-friendly real-world games, each of which is a bridge between the online and offline worlds."
Travel bugs are a part of Geocaching, not some separate game. (To be even more specific, travel bugs are a part of geocaching.com's version of geocaching.....)
Love geocaching, not too sure about geodashing though, it's a bit too random for me!
Burma?
Phones with GPS are by no means a new phenomenon at all. Even the RAZR has GPS, and it's rapidly approaching 6 years old now.
Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!
Sending nerds out into the woods... I smell several lawsuits coming.
-No, you cannot use your feather cloak to jump of this cliff.
-No, you cannot use your underwater breathing skill to cross this river.
-No, that's a real bear. Run!
If camera is all dark and GPS is not receiving any signal, player is eaten by the Grue.
Play or be played, I liked the name but must defer credit to the OP at Urban Dictionary.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=geoshagging
Residents of their mom's basement need not apply.
EDIT: captcha on submit was "mating" LOL
All of these can be done with just GPS coordinates and devices. I was expecting something more creative.
I love that GPS game where people broadcast to the entire web on Foursquare/Twitter that they're not home so you rob their houses blind! :D http://pleaserobme.com
http://www.object404.com
Nokia has published ovi maps racing, which is essentially micro machines in real world. Really fun game, you essentially create tracks based on real world maps stored on your phone, and can race on them. Brings a whole new level of fun to make a track around your neighbourhood and share it with friends. Real killer app for nokia and GPS has been their sports tracker though, which isn't a game. Sadly it became a pay application after its enourmous success as a free one.
A long time ago on a game programming forum I came up with the idea of a game I called "car wars". At the time, hand-held GPS units were just becoming commonly available (though still rather expensive) and you could hook a cellphone and a GPS unit to laptops. I couldn't afford to try it, and neither could anyone else.
The idea was that this would be a sort of server-based Atari "Battle Zone" game, but played in your car. The PC would show a real-time radar map, and your car on it. You would have to visit random points to pick up "ammo", and then get near opposing players' cars to "shoot". The use of the computer would allow artificial conditions to be provided--such as power-ups that would temporarily extend your ammo supply, the ammo range, "radar-proof" your car to opposing players, or temporarily reveal their locations to you. There could be "clouds" that would drift across the radar screen, hiding players from each other. They might be driving down the same roads, perhaps even within sight of each other--but wouldn't recognize each other by sight, only by the radar screen.
The whole point of this was to introduce a new computer/online game style that was location-based--basically, you could actually meet the people IRL that you played with. Of course using cars, there would be a tendency to speed, but a game now could detect that and award penalties for doing so. The use of cars at all is somewhat hazardous, but GPS isn't accurate enough on any scale small enough to be useful on foot. The game (as I imagined it) would be played city-wide...... Somebody else will have to take the torch however. I'm no longer interested in driving around the city in circles, and I even have a pocket-PC phone with GPS and net access.
Oh well.
In the last couple years I think we've already seen something like this done...... I seem to remember a guy who made a GPS "Pac-Man" style game, where you had VR goggles and had to run around outside to play it....
~
Mwahahhaha I will hide lonts of stuff.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
In practice, most citizens, with a right to privacy most of the time, don't have it. Most government, and some corporate employees, who should be accountable to many people and don't always have as many rights to privacy, can afford to get it somehow. Most of us simply can't afford the costs of real privacy - having a staff to do non-tracked purchases, watch your house or company, fully secure your cell, gps, blackberry, web and desktop uses, encrypt your every transmission, get anonymous connections, etc, etc. So the end result is, actual privacy is now for corporations and government who can afford it. The rest have the phone, web actions, face images, etc tracked somewhere. It's complex -- who and where actually does a right to privacy actually exist, and not? And who gets to exercise them, rightly, and wrongly?
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
I’ve tried these “games”. And while there are many out there, they are pretty lame. And GPS is way too inexact anyway. And it doesn’t work in buildings. Or between high buildings. Or in the woods. Or pretty much everywhere where it would be fun.
So it’s a lot of moving. In your everyday scenery. ;)
Sorry, but this can’t beat alien 3D worlds and game physics.
Plus: What geek likes sports anyway?
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
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And many/most Windows Mobile smartphones had it too, before half of these even existed. And it's not like they're at a disadvantage for "GPS games", e.g. Geocaching Live is only available for Java/WinMo. I know this is Slashdot, but come on...
One of the most interesting GPS games I've seen in a while is Wherigo, which was developed by the same folks who run geocaching.com (disclaimer: I'm a prominent geocacher). It's an interactive location based game that works by way of "cartridges" that can be downloaded to certain GPS receivers and smart phones. Possibilities include simple tours of parks or historic areas, interactive games that require you to visit certain spots to unlock other locations, or complex lifesize mazes or whack-a-mole style games that can be played anywhere and are often physically challenging.
Sadly the game hasn't really taken off yet, probably because of a lack of compatible devices (there is no iPhone app yet) or because of the learning curve required to create new cartridges. However, it has much untapped possibility. I've played through a few cartridges that were essentially tours of obscure but fascinating sites in city parks, and had alot of fun in the process.
I swear that trailing slash wasn't there when I hit preview. The actual link should be: http://www.wherigo.com/about.aspx
My family has been geocaching for about 10 years. I've tried it about 10 times with a smartphone and found the GPS to be less than accurate enough for that use. At times, the phone GPS would tell me to head in an opposite direction from where the cache actually was located and getting within 20-50 ft was my only expectation. Well, they fail on that too.
A $120 Garmin hiking GPS that my sister uses was always more accurate. It seemed to point directly into the location and was always within 20ft of the cache. It could be that Garmin is what most GeoCachers use, so any errors are similar. I dunno.
I'm not trying to bash smartphone GPSes - mine works PERFECTLY for driving. Perhaps there are different settings when you move under 5 mph that need to be enabled to limit the drift?
Ok, I lied, I don't have a smart phone. I have a Nokia N800 with a GoPass GPT800 Bluetooth GPS Receiver SiRF Star III bluetooth GPS tethered to it. I've tethered other GPS receivers and had similar results.
We have a whole bunch of add on games for our Android GPS game called
Back Seat Driver
Our goal is to build smart-cars that drive themselves. Piece by piece, we will achieve this.
First speed limits
Then aftermarket self-steering (for limited roads at first)
Then auto-trains, so you can go coast-to-coast and wake up in Yellowstone!
But first, we yell at you if you speed....
speedlimits
I was expecting a list of actual phone games, not just generic GPS games.
http://thegreatlandgrab.com/
the great land grab is an actual game you play in teh phone and in real life on google maps by fighting over land with other players in real time.
I love GPS
wholesale dvds
Of all the damn trolls, this post is just ridiculous. And I'm just stoned enough to sit here, read that, and laugh. Damn you! You need to die.
I recently re-read "Halting State". Interesting ideas of what could be done with cellphones and such.
I also recommend "This Is Not A Game" by Walter Jon Williams. Yet another take on gaming, LARPing and the possibilities of technology.
Caption of figure 2 reads:
and the screenshot shows a clearly labeled map where all waypoints are in Britain or the Netherlands.
No.... plain GPS receivers doesn't work in buildings, in the woods. But if there is data network, then things change.
The new wave in LBS is merging A-GPS with social location information and other data.
Mobile phones have A-GPS (Assisted GPS) and other technologies, like Cell ID based locations and WIFI Hotspots information. By merging all this information, "positioning systems" that are not simply GPS anymore are getting much better.
A-GPS gathers Almanaque and Ephemeris data from the network, "making a weak signal stronger".
Cell ID (from the operators' cell phone antennas, BTSs) and WIFI help in between buildings, inside places by applying algorithms using simple techniques.
By gathering this information and crossing it, right now there can be pretty good results.
I'm using a Nokia E63 WITHOUT a GPS receiver. With the help from Nokia location based servers (supl.nokia.com) , I get pretty accurate location information without a GPS.
I'm a geek. I like sports :-)