ChrisBell.eu

It’s been a long time coming, but finally I have got round to producing a video for the iPhone app that I developed in my Final Year Project at university - StaffsLocator.

I’ve had a number of academic enquiries about it over the past year, so I think it’s about time I published some information about it.

What is it?

Collectively it is a system which comprises of an iPhone app, a primitive web service and a remote administration system for controlling data. The system is designed to solve a common problem; navigation in unfamiliar locations.

How does it work?

A user would visit an unfamiliar location, in this example Staffordshire University on an open day. In a large site which is unfamiliar to the visitor, it may be difficult to find a destination, especially if it is quite hidden away. This is where the app comes in.

If outdoors, the user gets visual directions to their destined room. If indoors, the user can scan a QR code on a wall/door or manually type the name of their nearest room in order to find information about where they are, and how to get directions to a further destination.

At the end of the visit, if the user has marked their car as parked, they can then get directions directly back to it from their current location - even if indoors. Directions are generated on the fly using a path finding algorithm.

What technologies are involved?

iPhone app

• Objective C
• JSON
• GPS
• QR Code / bar code reading
• Location based services
• SQLite

Administration system

• PHP
• MySQL
• XHTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• AJAX

Web service

• Path finding algorithm

Where can I find it?

I’m afraid it hasn’t been released commercially, thus you won’t be able to get your hands on it physically. However, hopefully the video above demonstrates its capabilities sufficiently.

I’d like to have something similar developed for my company/organisation

Contact me at CAB Designs, and let’s start discussing your requirements.