Thanks to Google, cellphone users who have smartphones have a new tool that helps them keep their distance from people. The Google-developed Sodar tool lets you know when people are getting closer than the recommended pandemic guidelines. The tool came out of an “Experiments with Google” project on technology hacks to help people cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
The tool taps into Android smartphone cameras to put users in the centre of a white circle with a radius of about two metres and gives users a visual warning when they are within the potentially hazardous radius. The perimeter of the tool is, determined based on pandemic social distancing guidelines.
According to the California-based internet firm, Sodar works through Google-made Chrome browsers on Android smartphones that support augmented reality.”This experiment uses (the application program interface) WebXR to visualise 2-metre social-distancing guidelines in your environment,” said Sodar.
