Today marks the launch of the iPhone 4 at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference. The device is touted as the greatest advancement since the original launch of the iPhone back in 2007. The thinner device has a high-resolution 326 ppi display, a faster chip, a bigger battery, and a new operating system that supports multitasking. But what really caught my eye is the combination of new features that makes this ideally suited for augmented reality. Location and video are the two key ingredients for precise augmented reality, and it appears that the iPhone 4 is poised to leap ahead of all other devices in helping to realize the promise of layers of information overlaid upon your current position to aid in navigation and understanding of your position.
Sensors onboard now include a Gyroscope. With the gyroscope and accelerometer, the device has very precise location in six axis of motion for pitch, roll and yaw detection. Geolocation is now more precise with true GPS with a chipset based solution rather than assisted GPS that uses the triangulation of cell towers. This new location awareness of the device is coupled with a 5 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and high-definition digital video. Along with this functionality, developers now have a new CoreMotion API to access this functionality along with other sensors (compass, proximity and ambient light) for applications that can take in readings of the world around you to help inform your actions.
It’s really amazing how far handheld devices have come in the past few years. I just wrote a Perspectives column on the implications of “Mobile First” in the GIS space, without this new iPhone release in mind. It now seems quite serendipitous to again take a closer look on what device and platform people will choose to create compelling geospatially-enabled applications. With these new features, and more precise location, I’m sure that the iPhone will now be a platform of choice for most new location-based applications.
