Doors Open Day – Guided Tour App

In conjunction with our Main Library colleagues, the EDINA Mobile Internet project has developed a self-guided tour app using beacons for the main library.

The app has been specifically designed for the Doors Open Days on the 26th and 27th of September 2015. It will allow users to explore the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library through an interactive tour enabling you to learn about the history of the building, discover the exhibitions space and find out more about the library’s varied services and world-class collections.

The app uses beacons to pop up a series of videos as you explore the building(see screenshots below). It is available for download in iOS and Android versions from the Google Play store and the Apple app store :

Android : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fplan.edina.ac.uk.fplan&hl=en_GB

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/main-library-tour/id1040515101?mt=8

Or visit the stores and search for “Main Library Tour”

iOS Simulator Screen Shot 17 Sep 2015 10.26.13          iOS Simulator Screen Shot 16 Sep 2015 16.28.08         IMG_0298

“From Mobile to the Internet of Things: How application development will change.”

An interesting article in ‘Computing’ asserts that investment in mobile application development will stand organisations in good stead when it comes to dealing with the Internet of things. It forecasts that there will still be a focus on development for smartphones and tablets, however, more organisations will start to experiment with sensor enabled and wearable connected and embedded devices.

It doesn’t paint an entirely rosy picture, it states that organisations are still dealing with mobile app backlog despite the adoption of agile approaches by developers and DevOps. The article ends by asking the question – ‘how will organisations keep abreast with the demands of Mobility and the Internet of Things.

The full article can be found here.

Google Glass at the University of Edinburgh

Hands free, voice activated and designed to be an unobtrusive as possible, Google Glass is one example of how wearable technology is changing how we think about mobile technology.

The University, in partnership with Google, has embarked on a project investigating how this technology can be used to support learning, teaching and the general day to day experience at the University.

To this end, the University is encouraging small groups (Max 4) to submit ideas of how this technology can be used; the key words are innovation and creativity.

There is a website (http://glass.ed.ac.uk/) that has further details regarding the project.

Sensewhere Launch SDK

Sensewhere are company specialising in indoor positioning solutions. Their main product is purely software based with no requirement for additional hardware.

On Nov 4th they launched their Software Development Kit which is licence free to mobile device manufacturers and platform providers.

The brief for the Sensewhere developers kit can be found here.

 

8 Predictions for Mobile App Development in 2015

“Isolated apps are out; “micro-moments” are in”

In a recent report, technology analysts Forrester Research are predicting that big changes are coming in in mobile development.

They are predicting 8 significant changes to the mobile development ‘market’ in 2015:

  1. Standalone apps will lose their luster
  2. Hardware-driven innovation will enable new opportunities
  3. Mobile competition will shift to accessories and ecosystems
  4. Composition will dominate front-end mobile experiences
  5. The merger of physical and digital worlds accelerates
  6. Mobile context becomes high-def
  7. Service virtualization and API design tools will appear in every development toolbox
  8. Low-code platforms will move into the aggregation tier, but struggle to go mainstream

They see the driver for these is users moving

“… away from apps, and toward more contextually relevant micro-moments, delivered across families of devices, that are personalized to anticipate unique customer needs.”

There is a summary article on ‘readwrite’ here  and the full report is available here.