bGeigie, Safecast and Google Glass

[Moritz Kütt]

I wrote two apps ("glassware") for the Google Glass.

DoseView takes the glass' location and looks for existing radiation data in the safecast database (via safecast api). The nearest measurement point is then displayed on the Glass. It is available on github: https://github.com/nuclearfreesoftware/DoseView (including an APK file to install it without the need for building it again).

The second app connects the Glass via Bluetooth to a bGeigie nano (with BLEBee). Glass can than display the data live. I have to clean up the code a bit and sort out licensing issues, afterwards I will post the github link here. I made extensive use of the Android Bluetooth Low Energy API. Because of this, It might actually be easy to convert the app to work on phones.

I hope this post is interesting for some people (and not just seen as self advertising). The two projects were my first android developments at all, so they are no very well in style. I'm very happy to take suggestions/help from people that try it.

[Robert Staton]

That does seem slightly interesting to me.  So, somebody wearing Google Glass could have a constant display of the estimated background radiation?

I think the method could be improved by averaging the closest sampled points in several directions.  For example, you could average four points, the closest from each of four quadrants.  You could give them weighted factors based on the relative distance.

You could also have the display in 'alarm mode,' where the radiation value is not shown unless it reaches some threshold level.

I can only imagine it being useful to someone who must travel near the affected areas of Fukushima, as a bandaid replacement for a Geiger counter.

[Moritz Kütt]

On Sunday, July 13, 2014 9:42:00 PM UTC-4, Robert Staton wrote:

That does seem slightly interesting to me.  So, somebody wearing Google Glass could have a constant display of the estimated background radiation?

Yes, as long as there is a connection to the Safecast Server and some location service (e.g. GPS).
 

I think the method could be improved by averaging the closest sampled points in several directions.  For example, you could average four points, the closest from each of four quadrants.  You could give them weighted factors based on the relative distance.

This is true, but I did not yet come up with a very good solution. There is two things to consider: distance + timeliness of data (date of the measurement point). I guess I need to think about this in more detail.
 

You could also have the display in 'alarm mode,' where the radiation value is not shown unless it reaches some threshold level.

I can only imagine it being useful to someone who must travel near the affected areas of Fukushima, as a bandaid replacement for a Geiger counter.

 

 I think it is useful in any area with widespread radiation. An advantage compared to Geiger counter / dosimeter is the possibility to estimate possible dose rates. The app could tell you "Do not go straight, but make a detour to the left" in cases of local maxima. However, this is currently beyond my glass programming abilities.

It might even be more useful to think of the mentioned options in terms of tablet/phone apps - more people have these devices, so data display might be more useful. I think there exist a safecast app for iPhone?

[Moritz Kütt]

Second App: https://github.com/nuclearfreesoftware/GlassGeigie

(Connect Glass via Bluetooth BLEBee to bGeigie nano and display data live on screen). Will not work for Android Phones, but can probably be converted easy by someone with Android 4.4 (my phone is still on 4.2)