Fwd: GCD AR app request

[Lionel English]

Our old friend and co-founder Tim Stroup sent me this message yesterday, asking for the board's endorsement of a project he want's to pursue.  I think this sounds like a great project.  If anyone else thinks so, please make a motion to endorse Tim's project, and we'll put it up to a vote.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tim Stroup
Date: Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 7:21 PM
Subject: GCD AR app request
To: Lionel English


Hello Lionel,

Long time since we've talked.  Hope you are doing well.

I have a proposal I'd like to put to the GCD Board to get approval to
follow up on a little test that I did.

I've been following Augmented Reality (AR) progress and found a system
that may be useful for the GCD.  I don't know if you've bought any of the
recent Avengers Vs X-Men series that is using AR, but I did, just to see
what Marvel did with it.  I was thinking of something less complex, so I
researched what kind of systems are available.  I found one which might do
what I have in mind.

What I was thinking of was a GCD app which would use a phone's (or ipad's)
camera to look at a comic book cover and then go directly to that issues'
GCD entry.  This would be really simple AR, but I thought pretty cool.

I found an AR platform and created a quick proof-of-concept to see how
easy or doable it would be.  It turned out to be really easy.

Using Aurasma, the same platform that Marvel used for their app, I made 4
cover trigger images that link directly to their GCD record.  You can even
then roam around on the GCD web site once there.  Digging further into
Aurasma, I found that they would put a GCD "skin" over their platform for
free.  So we could have a GCD app.  The best part is that it would be
free.

Now, I haven't delved too deeply into the nitty gritty yet to see if it
could handle the huge number of items that we have and I don't know all
the procedures for getting into iTunes or an Android app store.  And I am
sure there is more to figure out, but there are guidelines with Aurasma.

So, what I want to ask the board is if it is ok for me to dig deeper, see
if it is possible, and be the GCD rep for this project.  I'll be happy to
shepherd this through and would welcome any assistance any one wants to
give.

If you have an iPhone 3+ or Android one running at least 2.2, I'd be happy
to give you directions so you can try out the proof of concept for your
self.  I tried the proof of concept using my iPad and several different
trigger images: an actual beat up comic book, a comic book in a plastic
bag and a comic book cover from the GCD on my computer screen. I also had
Jochen Garcke give a try on his Android phone.   All worked fine.

Let me know what you need from me.

Thanks,

- Tim

--
Lionel English

San Diego, CA
lio...@beanmar.net

[Merlin Haas]

>Our old friend and co-founder Tim Stroup sent me this message
>yesterday, asking for the board's endorsement of a project he want's
>to pursue. I think this sounds like a great project. If anyone
>else thinks so, please make a motion to endorse Tim's project, and
>we'll put it up to a vote.

Sounds promising, but I don't know enough about smartphones and apps
to feel comfortable with making a motion. Can anyone think of a
downside to this?

best -- Merlin Haas

><mailto:lio...@beanmar.net>lio...@beanmar.net
>
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[R Bottorff]

I think it is great and the only issue I can think of might be bandwidth, but I believe that is less and less an issue these days.

For making a motion, I am like Merlin, not much a techie on these sorts of things. However maybe something simple.

Motion:

The GCD Board authorizes co-founder Tim Stroup to explore and develop an AR app for the GCD to allow the capture of comic book covers by smart phones and tablets. The app then can use the covers to connect to the actual index for that comic book in the GCD database. The Board also authorizes any additional features to be developed in the AR app to better enhance the users experience connecting to the GCD.

or something like that.

my best
-Ray

--- On Fri, 8/10/12, Lionel English <lio...@beanmar.net> wrote:

From: Lionel English <lio...@beanmar.net>
Subject: [gcd-board] Fwd: GCD AR app request
To: "GCD Board" <gcd-...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Friday, August 10, 2012, 2:50 PM

Our old friend and co-founder Tim Stroup sent me this message yesterday, asking for the board's endorsement of a project he want's to pursue.  I think this sounds like a great project.  If anyone else thinks so, please make a motion to endorse Tim's project, and we'll put it up to a vote.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Hello Lionel,

give.

Thanks,

- Tim

[Donald Dale Milne]

Would we wish to fund any part of this development, or perhaps wait
until a request for funding might be made?

- Don Milne

[Andres Jimenez]

We have many features of or own that would benefit of some development
work, so I would consider funding those before any external app.

Also is important to keep in mind, that iCdb is a for-profit app
(based in what I have seen in its user's reviews, for free you can
only download data for 3 series).

Regards,

Andrés

2012/8/12 Donald Dale Milne <dond...@att.net>:

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--
Andres Jimenez

[Lionel English]

At the moment he's just asking for permission to pursue development (which he doesn't really need) and permission to act as a representative of the GCD while doing that (to my eyes, the only thing in the proposal that actually requires board permission).

If his research leads him to believe there are some development costs, then I'd expect a separate request to authorize those.

Any idea how the fee structure works?  It might be something we could roll into the cost of an app, or we could price the app at a low price ($1.99, $0.99) in order to offset costs if needed.  Although a free app would be more likely to be downloaded and used, increasing our exposure, so it might be better to just absorb the costs (depending on what they are).

[Tony Rose]

Okay, I've read it three time now and I still don't know who Tim wants to represent the GCD to.  The app stores?

Lionel, could yet get that clarified for me?





tony

---

From: "Lionel English" <lio...@beanmar.net>
To: "GCD Board" <gcd-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 1:50:47 PM

Subject: [gcd-board] Fwd: GCD AR app request

[Tony Rose]

There's nothing in this proposed motion that needs our approval.  As far as I can tell, if Tim wants to market this (even for free) through the app stores as a "GCD app," then we need to vote him that authority.  But if he just wants to make it a "Tim Stroup app" then he can do that without a vote.

I think.

Hmm.  Maybe this does need a vote of some sort.  We've never talked about allow someone to read our data, live, through a different interface.  double hmmm.






tony

---

From: "R Bottorff" <carch...@yahoo.com>
To: gcd-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 9:30:39 PM
Subject: Re: [gcd-board] Fwd: GCD AR app request

[Tony Rose]

I agree that we should only consider funding if he asks for it directly.  And our participation in setting the fee structure, if any, would also depend on just what it is that Tim plans on marketing.

tony

---

From: "Lionel English" <lio...@beanmar.net>

To: gcd-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 9:35:11 AM
Subject: Re: [gcd-board] Fwd: GCD AR app request

[Lionel English]

I'm not sure he has anyone specific in mind at this point.  I think he wants to follow through with Aurasma and he may need to follow up with people at the iTunes or Google Play stores, or with third-party people to find out what's involved in putting everything together..

[Tony Rose]

I can't figure how to formulate a motion because I don't know what he needs.

tony

---

From: "Lionel English" <lio...@beanmar.net>

To: gcd-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 10:51:46 AM
Subject: Re: [gcd-board] Fwd: GCD AR app request