Loquiz in metro

Loquiz has been successfully used in buses and trams, but what happens when you use Loquiz app underground?

Does it work at all? Does it work on all devices? We did not know much about the location services in metro system, so we did not have any expectations. This test was carried out in Finland, Helsinki.

As a summary –  Loquiz did work in Metro, but there are things to keep in mind.

Setup

We used two devices for testing. Ipad Mini and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

In both devices GPS, Wifi and mobile data connectivity was turned on. Naturally GPS signal is not available underground so we kind of hoped that it will be compensated with other signals.

Game

We created a simple game using Google map and pinpointed locations in a following way:

1. in the underground station

2. in the underground route (not in station)

3. on the ground route (basically usual train)

4. on the ground station (all the stations have quite massive roofs)

Locations were positioned as if they were on the ground. We did not alter the height at all.

The aim was to see how reliably the device determines its location and activates the questions.

Results

Results were vastly different for different devices.

Samsung device while underground was basically useless. We are not sure that it used wifi, mobile grids to define a position at all. When on the ground it worked, but our location kept disappearing and the location error was considerable.

Samsung did not activate any underground route points. It did not activate underground station location either, but these could be activated by going out and getting a GPS lock. Ground stations it kind of worked and ground route it was acceptable by our standards.

Ipad mini skipped on underground route location. It did not activate it at all. It activated all underground station questions. Somehow iPads location accuracy was very good every time the train arrived to the station. So there is definitely a signal that it used for the locations. Between the stations location was less accurate, but accurate enough so you could actually see where you approximately are. As said only on location did not activate.

On the ground iPad performed considerably better than Samsung as well. Location fix was quick and error tolerable. The same in on the ground stations.

Neither of the devices froze, so they seem to be robust enough to accept GPS signal loss for extended period of time.

In short – if you want to make a Loquiz game in underground make sure you use iPads, your chance of success will be much higher. And test beforehand!