Iphone Wherigo

[+Sage Angel]

Hello, I am trying to help a friend download the Wherigo app, but it doesn't seem to be in the Apple store. It is possible that I downloaded it from my PC years ago, but can't recall exactly. I have downloaded cartridges and played it on my iPhone pretty recently. Just cant remember where I originally got the app. 

[+IceColdUK]

 

[+fbingha]

A week? It's now Jan 2nd. What sort of SCRUM process is Groundspeak running in that their expectation of a software release being 1 week away has now turned into 2 months later?

 

Is this where we insert the conspiracy theories about killing of Wherigo in preference for Adventure Labs?

Edited January 2, 2021 by fbingha

[+Hügh]

On 1/2/2021 at 11:13 AM, fbingha said:

A week? It's now Jan 2nd. What sort of SCRUM process is Groundspeak running in that their expectation of a software release being 1 week away has now turned into 2 months later?

 

Is this where we insert the conspiracy theories about killing of Wherigo in preference for Adventure Labs?

 

My hope is that they are re-writing the application such that it is cross-compatible with Android devices. That requires collaboration between the software development and design teams. Considering the archaic Wherigo "API" (as in, it was designed for GPSrs) I wouldn't be surprised if there have been some unexpected surprises during development (a Lua VM in a React Native application isn't easy.)

 

Either way, Groundspeak probably closed for a week over the holidays, so that'll account for a little more of the downtime.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Hügh

[Ranger Fox]

I suspect the iOS API has changed quite a bit since spstanley first created the app--and I don't know whether he or Groundspeak will be making the changes.  Groundspeak hasn't informed me through private channels about what to expect, either.  If this wait on the iOS app goes on for a lot longer, I'll have to start making inquiries.

[+IceColdUK]

On 1/2/2021 at 7:13 PM, fbingha said:

A week? It's now Jan 2nd. What sort of SCRUM process is Groundspeak running in that their expectation of a software release being 1 week away has now turned into 2 months later?

The wait is over!

 

 

[+Hügh]

Woohoo! But it looks like my guesses were wrong. Still no "official" app for Android

[Ranger Fox]

Unfortunately, this reskinned version has the same major problems as the original: the map only updates the zones when you first pull it up, the zones are all represented as map pins instead of their geometry, and the zones list panel tends not to update when zones' active status changes (at times, it does, but it seems on some long delay).  (While less of a problem, if you have an activated zone's details displayed and it becomes inactive, is renamed, or moved, these updates are not reflected in the zone's details panel.)  Also, I don't know why there's functionality to project a waypoint, but it might be useful if running across cartridges with invisible zones and you know the distance and bearing.  The UI for updating the longitude or latitude of a projected waypoint looks nice.  It's also interesting projected waypoints are retained with the cartridge in which the waypoint was created.

 

And the least of anyone's worries is it still doesn't play Tetris.  Ha, ha.

[+MrCachly]

On 1/8/2021 at 3:30 PM, Ranger Fox said:

Unfortunately, this reskinned version has the same major problems as the original: the map only updates the zones when you first pull it up, the zones are all represented as map pins instead of their geometry, and the zones list panel tends not to update when zones' active status changes (at times, it does, but it seems on some long delay).

 

Do you have some specific cartridges with examples that you can point out so that I can take a look and see if we can solve the issue?

[Ranger Fox]

On 1/15/2021 at 12:20 AM, MrCachly said:

 

Do you have some specific cartridges with examples that you can point out so that I can take a look and see if we can solve the issue?

Of mine, Whack-A-Lackey is the one I usually pull up to see if the map and zone list are refreshed based on zone events and not via app navigation clicks.  This arcade cartridge moves, shows, and hides zones every so often during play.

 

For zone geometry, I do not have a cartridge to reference off the top of my head.  I've always kept my zones square and acted like they were points.  However, I'd expect the zone's shape to be displayed on the map, not just a pin.  I do understand geofencing is more taxing than just a simple waypoint, so it's easy for an app engineer to want to skip over that.  While I cannot recall the cartridges, I've seen some with thin, long rectangles for zones or other cartridges where a zone's shape matches a building's.

 

I do not have an Android device, so I can't look over the Android-only apps.

 

It would, though, be quite funny and surprising if a Wherigo player app is later finally able to play Tetris.  That would be a small achievement as the playing and/or visualization parts have been a struggle for player apps.

[+MrCachly]

On 1/17/2021 at 6:43 AM, Ranger Fox said:

For zone geometry, I do not have a cartridge to reference off the top of my head. 

 

Let me know if you find one, as I would like to fix this issue.

[+watersphere]

Does anyone know how the IPhone app internally interprets the zone shapes? Are they also represented as a circle around the pin instead of the defined "real" zone?

 

And if so, where does the app place its pin for complex shaped zones? In the "middle" (wherever that will be!)? Or on the "first" point of the zone definition? Further, what radius does the app use? In range? On proximity?

 

So many questions... And no problem on Android at all!

 

Greetings - Christoph

 

P.S.: The urwigo image shows a zone that the player is not allowed to enter...

[Ranger Fox]

@spstanley would be the best person to answer that question.

 

As for the zone, goodness.  I've always been curious about the calculations required to determine whether a player is in or out of a zone that looks complicated (imagine a circle like a pizza with eight slices and a few are missing).

 

When I was testing my Tetris cartridge, I saw that the iPhone player app had two shortcomings I didn't like: it only represented zones with pins and you had to exit and return to the map to process any zone changes.  Something like Tetris was not a good fit with Wherigo in its current form.

[+watersphere]

Quote

As for the zone, goodness

Yes, I know... Three years ago, when I was so disappointed with Groundspeak's Adventure Labs, I started playing with the possibilities of wherigos. And then, of course, the wishes got bigger and bigger... Now I have, among other things, zones that move, corridors in which the player can move and zones that are not always just rectangles. And hey , smartphones are now widespread, the hardware has improved and with whereyougo there is a reasonably well-functioning player for the majority of users. And everything worked on Android until the apple came around the corner...

 

Quote

I've always been curious about the calculations required to determine whether a player is in or out of a zone that looks complicated (imagine a circle like a pizza with eight slices and a few are missing)

To be honest, I have ignored this question until now, assuming that there must be intelligent people who have already developed an algorithm or code pattern for this purpose - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/217578/how-can-i-determine-whether-a-2d-point-is-within-a-polygon (but don't forget the toppings on the pizza ).

 

But what I haven't really understood is who does what when running a Wherigo cartridge:
- Wherigo app or used lua VM(?) of the device.
- Lua compiler
- Wherigo lua implementation

- Urwigo ?!?
- Cartridge lua code

I thought/hoped that zones and something like "player in zone" are implemented in the Wherigo lua code and therefore it would be device independent (since the compiler should also be identical).

[+Hügh]

2 hours ago, watersphere said:

But what I haven't really understood is who does what when running a Wherigo cartridge:

 

Lua is advertised as a scripting language, but in some contexts it can be better to think of it as a configuration language instead. As a cartridge developer, you are simply specifying the way the player's app should behave in response to particular events, such as OnEnter or OnGetInput. Lua just happens to be, well, extraordinarily liberal in what it allows you to specify, hence the need for the VM to actually "run" the specified response.

 

This means that it is entirely up to the player's app to implement the behaviour specified by the cartridge. That is, the player app is responsible for checking if the user enters a zone. If the user does, the player app is responsible for checking if the cartridge specifies any particular behaviour. If so, the player app is responsible for responding as specified by the zone:OnEnter function.

 

The role of Groundspeak's compiler is to bundle all the resources (images, sounds, the logic) together into a file (gwz) that is formatted so that the player's app can easily read and interpret it.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Hügh