bryceco / GoMap

OpenStreetMap editor for iPhone/iPad
ISC License
305 stars 40 forks source link

Inspiration: AR to measure height #685

Open tordans opened 9 months ago

tordans commented 9 months ago

Etsy recently shared how they use Apple SceneKit to show heights data: https://www.etsy.com/codeascraft/the-ar-measuring-box-etsys-answer-to-big-tape-measure

I share this as an inspiration on how to use the AR measure features of the iPhone to add heights to smaller objects in OSM.

bryceco commented 9 months ago

Can you give some examples of things you'd like to measure? I can't remember needing this functionality.

tordans commented 9 months ago

About height…

I agree, the only cases where height data is interesting for me to map is…

Of those, only the last case would fall into this AR category IMO, since I suspect building and trees cannot be measured this way. I am thinking about sheds and power station buildings which are typically below "1 story height", so the regular tagging feels imprecise.

About width…

Width, however, is a different story. For all kind of projects related to pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure the width of a path is super important. Right now only StreetComplete has a decent way to map this. MapComplete has a tool to get a width based on aerial imagery, but that is not very precise either.

Apart from the path width, the width or spacing on other infrastructure provides valuable details. We created this detailed schema to map cycle barriers https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?oldid=2190485 for example. But other barriers also have gaps that are interesting to map.

upintheairsheep commented 7 months ago

About height…

I agree, the only cases where height data is interesting for me to map is…

  • height of trees
  • height ob buildings / structures
  • height of small buildings

Of those, only the last case would fall into this AR category IMO, since I suspect building and trees cannot be measured this way. I am thinking about sheds and power station buildings which are typically below "1 story height", so the regular tagging feels imprecise.

About width…

Width, however, is a different story. For all kind of projects related to pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure the width of a path is super important. Right now only StreetComplete has a decent way to map this. MapComplete has a tool to get a width based on aerial imagery, but that is not very precise either.

Apart from the path width, the width or spacing on other infrastructure provides valuable details. We created this detailed schema to map cycle barriers https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?oldid=2190485 for example. But other barriers also have gaps that are interesting to map.

My long-term dream is to have an AR version of GoMap for the Apple Vision when it gets cheaper and more popular, equip it, and use a virtual gun or a finger laser pointer to micro-map out places by adding the dimensions of stuff like a trash can for instance, and use the LiDAR to automatically indoor map the walls. I still don't like Google's and Apple's lack of restrooms on the map, and OSM isn't better either unless it's a big city. But of course, the current APIs in visionOS might not be capable of it, the Apple Vision Pro isn't even out yet, and it might fail.