Reversing virtual reality with GPS navigation

What if you drove solely by your GPS? While many programs strive to create increasingly realistic simulations of the real world, Garnet Hertz of the Pasadena Art Center College of Design is working on the direct opposite. Hertz plans to convert a classic OutRun arcade cabinet into a working car that will use GPS navigation to create what he refers to as an “un-simulation of driving.” When completed, the driver will navigate actual roads with a screen rather than a windshield, rendering the real world in the style of the 1986 video game.

The key component in the project turns out to be a rather common commodity: an iPhone. Hertz decided to use an iPhone 3G as the basis for his software, seeing as it already features GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation to enable location-aware applications. Hertz explains on his project Website that he will develop his OutRun GPS Renderer using the iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit). “The Core Location Framework of the SDK provides position-fixing for the device including 3D geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude, including level of accuracy), and altitude (with level of accuracy) along with accelerometer data,” said Hertz.

The system will use OpenGL ES to procedurally generate realtime OutRun-style maps that respond to the iPhone 3G’s location in the real world. Once embedded in the vehicle, the custom-built iPhone OutRun GPS application will use an Apple Component AV Cable to display the application on the 26″ CRT screen in the cabinet-car. The arcade cabinet modified with an electric scooter will then be able to hit the roads, using the existing videogame controls to steer.

While the idea of driving by GPS instead of plain-old sight may seem like a disastrous idea when considering obstacles like pedestrians, Hertz explains that that is part of the project’s overall concept. “This project explores and investigates how GPS data differs from the physical world, and what happens when an augmentation of reality envelops and obfuscates reality,” said Hertz. The project plans to test the extent of GPS’s capabilities as a navigational tool, and work towards ways of improving it further. Hertz is currently testing the OutRun GPS Renderer by driving the cabinet-car at its maximum speed of 20mph and simply walking around with it as a guide. Whether the technology will ever actually hit the highway is irrelevant. The ultimate goal here is to learn from his mistakes in order to make future improvements to the technology, while also having a bit of nostalgic fun.

See “Student builds robot rocker” for another example of when engineering and video games collide.