Augmented reality support

[rugk]

Yeah, I know, and kinda big and heavy thing and a crazy idea. The explanation is simple though: May we add a virtual reality mode, where the quests are shown on the screen, i.e. not on a map, but on a live photo stream from the camera?

I still see the success of Pokémon Go, and while StreetComplete is, of course, no game, but a "serious app", it may still benefit from such a hyped feature as augmented/virtual reality. I really think that has a future, and it would really contribute to the gamification. I mean, you likely won't use it all the time (especially as it is heavy for your battery), but I have seen places, where many quests are crowded and it makes sense. Also, it may be really more for showing StreetComplete to your friends or so and making a tendentious task more fun. As such, it would of course more be a feature for young people, I'd say if we need a target group here - a cool thing. In contrast to Pokémon (Go), it also serves a good cause, so we can also take this as an advantage. 😉
Also there is no other OSM app with virtual reality integration yet (AFAIK), although it basically makes sense to combine map data (OSM, or, as here, quests for this data) with the reality.

It would also be great for showing what StreetComplete does/can do (i.e. when you show it to others, there is a wow effect [😮] 😉), as it is basically the realisation of the feature graphic in the Readme.
And for the ones who care about the safety of their users, it also helps as they are more likely to look on the street 😉).

And yeah, in any case, this is a very low-prio thing and may want for v10.0 or so. But at least it is independent from the map library. 😉

And BTW, this is not the only similarity StreetComplete has (or, aims at) with Pokemon Go. 😉

[rugk]

Summary of pros and cons:

Pro:

• gamification
• Pokémon Go-like
• hyped feature/future-proof
• a thing to show for friends/inspire users to get to StreetComplete
• target group: young people
• independent of any map (offline support)
• first OSM app to have this
• user-safety, i.e. users do not look down on their phone (IMHO, not a valid argument as one should always pay attention)

Con:

• resource/battery heavy, not usable for long mapping
• maybe not too useful when we have few quests, although it could display the ones far away, as it is just a direction indicator)
• maybe not too useful for using in the long-term, not only because of battery, but just because the map may be more effective and this just a gimmick

[westnordost]

This is probably not even that difficult to to achieve. Make the map transparent except for the quest markers and orient the tangram-camera according to the 3d-compass rotation while showing the camera output "behind" the map. Prerequisite: That the tangram-map can actually be transparent. Not sure about that. Otherwise, without tangram, it will be much more complex.

Anyone who is inclined could experiment around with it, but it is not a given whether I would merge this then. If anything, it would be an investigation on how it feels and if it works out the way as imagined.

[rugk]

Yeah, certainly some proof of concept would be needed to try out what the best way to do it is. I'd rather thought one might just trow a third-party library at the job and try to display the markers at the correct position (that would be the hard part then), but maybe your idea also works.

[TomJansen]

Really cool idea!

[ENT8R]

BTW: If you only want to express that you think this is a good idea, you don't have to write a comment but instead you should express your opinion through Github Reactions which you obviously did...

[westnordost]

So I won't do anything map-related and we don't need an issue as an invitation for those who are inclined to experiment around, closing.

[rugk]

BTW, for anyone having a Google-free or only microG device which is otherwise compatible and who watches this PR, I have a big news for you:
You can (very likely) use StreetComplete's AR mode just by installing one proprietary app.

More information (to keep it in one place): #2093 (comment)

[rugk]

BTW now that you have ARCore included, maybe the initial feature request I did here may be addressed? Or should I open a new issue?

Because the initial idea was kinda a different one. I like the current way of the implementation and think this is an awesome feature! That said, the initial request was to use the whole app in AR mode, i.e. l wanna hold my phone in the hand and see the quest markers "IRL" i.e. on my screen in AR mode. Everything else (i.e. the card panel for answering the quest) could still work as usual – though that would likely violate the UX guides Google e.g. provides in their AR Elements app.
I don't know how hard ARCore stuff is to implement (also given you now have experience in that), so showing some quest markers in the space sounds reasonable. Though I could imagine the mathematics are ´somewhat more complex here as you need to place the markers. I guess many AR demo apps may do/demonstrate this, as this is kinda the first AR thing one could imagine doing so.
After all the data is there, OSM has information where a building is and what you may not see (to not show quests behind a building), and of course one should have a general "limit of sight" with quest markers either disappearing after x meters or e.g. fading away. (Again, I have no idea what UX guidelines for AR stuff say regarding that or how exactly it can be implemented, I am just throwing ideas in here. Research may be needed here.)

Is this worth reopening?

[westnordost]

No, I won't implement that. I think it would be like a toy, not something that would be well usable. Imagine your compass is even slightly off, then nothing will look to be at the right position. And it will suck the battery dry in no time.
If someone wants to implement that like some kind of easter egg, sure go ahead. I am not even sure if an implementatoin (that works) would actually use ARCore.

[uwtcat]

Would you consider adding elements tagged as [highway=footway;footway=sidewalk] to the width quest (just like is currently done with cycleways and separate bike lanes)?

[mnalis]

@uwtcat There is issue #3825 open for that. It hasn't moved in a while, though - you might want to present your use case there in order to revive it.

If you need to map that data now, you can try SCEE ("Expert Edition" fork of StreetComplete) which already implements "How wide is foot path here?" quest (with user-tunable parameters on which footways it should be asked exactly).