iPhone Open Source Geolocation Radio Play for DevAbo.de

2015-12-23

I started a little side project using the geolocation functions of my iPhone. Once it’s finished it should fit into the story line for my scifi-webcomic at DevAbo.de. You can find the Xcode-Repository here.

It’s an attempt to create a location based radio play (or rather smartphone play) for iOS 9, focusing on the iPhone. Just start the app, put your earphones on and start walking around in Wiesbaden. The moment you reach the “Platz der deutschen Einheit”, the “Luisenplatz”, the “Marktkirche” or if you are near the “Schulberg” you should hear the corresponding (rather silly) audio tracks.

The currently used sound files are all just for layout and testing – to make sure the files get played when the user arrives at a location. I am still working on the part of the story for this app.

„Look, mum, no hands!“

The core idea for the application is to make the audio tracks play without having to fiddle with the touch-screen. The geolocation of the user triggers the playback. If I find the time I think I am going to add some conditional functionality, so that you can make the tracks dependent upon each other. The user then gets to hear a certain track only if he already visited one of the other places.
Another idea I will hopefully be able to try is a time restriction. So you could, for instance, visit the local cemetery during noon and don’t hear a sound, but if you enter it at night …

iPhone and Xcode required

Right now you still need to install compile and install the app via Xcode on your device. That’s because I am just testing this for fun and I reckon it’s fairly unlikely that I will break even on the 100$ registration fee for a apple developer account in the appstore.

If you want to adapt the contents to your purposes have a look at the file “tracklist.plist”. You’ll find the list establishing the connection between the audio files and the locations there.

For debugging purposes the app lists the latitude and longitude updates and the played audio files on the screen.