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Periscope
2.0
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11-12/2000
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Periscope is a browsing device for Wherehoo that allows a user to explore the physical world by navigating its digital shadow - in this case, web pages situated at the places they represent in the real world.
Periscope 2.0 is built into a Rembrandt Model II 5x7 view camera mounted on a tripod with pan head. It queries the Wherehoo Server, which binds digital representations of physical entities to their locations, to find web pages at their real locations in the physical world.
Completed in November 2000, enhancements made in 2.0 include: user control of search radius, new front and side-mounted knobs/levers to replace the original joystick distance selector, and a "shutter button" allowing the user to control the pace of exploration. A schematic diagram of the search distance and radius, relative to the Periscope's location, is displayed to help users visualize the search process. We have also added an on-camera LCD display to further encourage a sense of "looking toward" the place where a particular web page is "located".
Periscope 2.0's media player is called the Media Avenger. It presently can resolve JPG images and HTML pages stored at remote locations via URLs, or stored in the Wherehoo server itself. Future versions of the Media Avenger will add several new media types and will form a key part of new interfaces to Wherehoo.
Periscope Information Sheet for version 2.0 (PDF, 30K)
Periscope 3.0 has been built and replaces Periscope 2.0. Have a look!
Predecessor: Periscope 1.0
Periscope 2.0 has a front-mounted radius-size control, side-mounted range selector, illuminated hand-held shutter button, and top-mounted electronic compass. The LCD panel continues the sense of "camera" by placing the "images made" in the same place that optical images would appear on a conventional camera.
To use the Periscope:
1 - Point the Periscope in the direction you want to explore, as you would
point a real camera toward something of interest.
2 - Adjust the side-mounted range selector to indicate "how far away" the
Periscope should look. For in-Lab demos, the accessible range is 0 to 3,000
meters.
3 - Set the front-mounted radius selector to control "how large" an
area to search.
4 - Click the shutter button to make an exposure. Click again to see additional
web pages and photos located at the heading and range the Periscope is set
to.
Schematic view of search area appears before web pages are displayed, providing visual confirmation of the camera's orientation relative to North, as well as visual indication of the size of the search radius.
Properly jumpered Systronix STEP+ backplane with TINI Java SIMM installed.
This assembly is mounted on on the underside of the camera body. Coupled to an 8x1-bit I/O circuit, this subsystem performs A/D conversion and resolves a compass heading from the top-mounted electronic (analog) compass module.