Project Tango
Source: Techradar.
James Peckham, Google just made the tablet the ultimate museum piece, techradar, 28 February 2016
This is what Project Tango was made for.
Quite often we find ourselves staring down at our phone while exploring museums, frantically Googling topics to try and learn more about what I’m looking at.
Little plaques to the side of an exhibit never give enough information to truly explain what we’re seeing and we wish there was something to help educate us further. Thankfully, Project Tango is here to help.
Google’s indoor mapping tool has been around as a concept for quite some time now, but in partnership with Lenovo the company has finally installed it in its first public location.
We were lucky enough to be shown Project Tango working its magic at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona – and we can safely say, this is going to change the way you visit museums. At first you may think using a tablet will only distract from the education of museums, but in fact Tango can enhance it.
We were rather skeptical when walking into the first exhibit. That feeling continued when we had to calibrate the tablet by waving it round the room.
That involves spinning in circles for a few moments to let cameras and sensors on the back of the Dev Kit slate work out exactly where you’re stood. From there it will then place you on the map and instruct you where to go first.
Project Tango doesn’t use GPS; all the indoor navigation features are run through the camera technology on the back of the device, and that’s why the Dev Kit tablet is so thick right now.
Locating the tablet only took a few moments, then Project Tango showed us where all the exhibits sat. This means you can separate the wheat from the chaff easier and just walk right up to that piece of artwork you’d like to see. There’s no more having to search around for that one educational hit.