As we are all well aware that many countries are implementing lockdown to curb the widespread of coronavirus. One of the most effective ways to control and prevent it is by maintaining social distancing. And to help people with that many companies are coming up with various apps that can help you maintain distance from others. Well keeping this in mind Google has developed a new app called ‘Sodar’ to help people maintain social distance. The app has been developed under Experiments with Google and is currently not available on Google Play store but can be side-downloaded separately. To use Sodar on your phone you will need to have the latest updated version of Google ARCore.
All you need to do is open the Chrome browser and go to goo.gle/sodar to launch the AR tool. But currently, this function is not available for iOS and older Android devices. Basically, this App will create a visual boundary using the smartphone’s camera and will constantly notify whenever there is a breach of social distancing guidelines in your environment.
This app uses WebXR to help visualize the surrounding around you and creates a two-meter or 6.5feet(approx) radius ring around you. The perimeter will be superimposed on the actual surroundings of the user supposing that the user and the smartphone are together at the same spot, and this circle keeps moving along with the user. The app uses Augmented Reality(AR) technology which is used in games such as Pokemon Go. Once another person enters your two-meter radius ring the screen will visually alert you.
The best part about this app is that you are not required to install any other kind of app nor do people around you need to even have a phone with them. Apart from Google many companies are trying to grab this opportunity and are coming up with various apps to help users in some way or the other.
One such effort is made by the UN also called 1point5 which helps in maintaining a distance of 1.5 meters from your fellow human beings. But it will require people around to have Bluetooth turned on to notify you if they enter your vicinity. Well, this app is expected to be one of the best apps so far but let’s see it still needs a lot of work. Also, it can prove to be very beneficial not only to the public in general but to authorities as well.
He is an IT engineer and a tech geek having 13+ years of writing experience in the technology field. He is passionate about upcoming technology and loves to write on the technology niche.