Google's Project Tango: Revolutionary or Privacy Threat?
Just like the first versions of Project Glass, Google has come up with Project Tango. It is basically a focused exploration to delve into the limits about how much information a smartphone is capable of delivering about the space that surrounds it. As of now Google plans to use the current prototype device to help us map the world around us and of course use it in ways we never imagined possible.
Google claims that the technology inside the device (which runs on Android) and sports a 5.5 inch screen, “containing customised hardware and software designed to track the full 3D motion of the device, while simultaneously creating a map of the environment. These sensors allow the phone to make over a quarter million 3D measurements every second, updating its position and orientation in real-time, combining that data into a single 3D model of the space around you.” That’s a lot of firepower packed into one tiny cell phone-sized device if you ask us. Moreover, it sounds like something out of sci-fi movie.
What is more interesting (or rather creepy) is what Google plans to do with the data. One of the cool uses for this data would be the extension of the ever-popular street view to be mapped directly to a room. Such data can also help the visually-impaired to navigate unassisted in unfamiliar outdoor places as well. So far out of the 200 prototype dev kits available, many of these have already been assigned to particular areas such as indoor navigation, gaming (augmented reality games that use physical space) and other areas of research.
As always there will always be privacy freaks who cannot imagine living in a world like this. Especially, considering the 2012's data theft incident from UK. For those not in the know, the company's street-view cars collected username, passwords, emails, and more by accessing hacking into Wi-Fi networks.
Here's a video of Tango by Google
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