Post date: Aug 30, 2013 12:48:51 AM
My new project takes on a little more complexity. Marv is an Android app that displays points of interest on Googlemap, switches into an Augmented Reality Viewer so that the POI's (Points of Interest) can be easily found and incorporates proximity alerts for these POI's. It's primary function is as a Digital Concierge allowing users to easily configure and present multimedia in a location sensitive context.
There are two use cases for Marv. The first use case is a casual actor who uses Marv to find out the location and information about POIs. The other is the enterprise actor who will build up a portfolio of POI's into a file for the benefit of the first use case. Putting things in a more real life context, an enterprise user may have a list of historical monuments and wants to encourage visitors to these monuments. Historical information may be placed on a website accessible through a dialog that opens when the casual user taps on the marker in the Googlemap. To further entice the visitor, a discount coupon would be activated when the user approaches that POI. Lastly, when the user exits proximity of the POI, he will receive a brochure that tells him where he can purchase souvenirs or more information about that monument.
The application pulls its data from two files. One file, the Poi List File, contains a list of items each of which is a Poi Placemark Files. The extensions to KML used for these two files are documented in the file attached marv_kml_extensions.pdf.
At this point, I have only information available from the Singapore National Heritage Board available. If anybody is interested in developing a program based on this application, please contact me at nTouch.contact@gmail.com
Update: To date, Marv has passed the Samsung Apps qualification test and should be available on Samsung Apps shortly. Marv has been tested on a few models of Galaxy phones. The apk is attached below.