Apple Releases an Indoor Mapping Application

As surveillance technology undergoes a miniaturization process, Apple decides to take the next step. Apple releases Indoor Mapping application capable of tracking your movement around the house.

Remember when “The Police” released that song “Every breath you take” that had an Orwellian twist to it? “Every breath you take/every move you make/I’ll be watching you”. Seems kinda’ creepy, makes you turn your back a couple of times next time you decide to take a walk. But now you won’t have to, because the phone will be able to track your position anytime.

Leaving the drama behind, it seems that the tech giant outdone itself this time. According to a preview that listed all mobile application, it seems that Apple wants to release a new generation of tracking system.

The application itself is hidden inside the iOS store but users can access it by connecting manually to the online store. Basically the application uses radio frequencies and the phone sensors in order to track a person’s position anywhere inside a building.

All you have to do is fire up the application named Indoor Survey, and drop a couple of point inside the application. Based on the number of points and the frequency of inputs, the phone can calculate your approximate position. After that, by gathering data about the radio frequency signal, combined with the IPhone’s sensors, the application will show you where you are on the map.

IT specialists say that the technology used to develop surveillance applications is probably based on the WiFiSLAM, a project from Silicon Valley, bought by Apple back in 2013 for 20 million dollars.

It seems that the Indoor Survey project is part of a larger group of products that are used to track user movement. A similar application is “Find my friends” which you can use to track someone from your group of friends. Another similar application is IBeacon. When IBeacon is active on your phone, every time you walk past a Starbucks or another diner, the phone plays a clicking sound.

Although the project was criticized, Apple plans to develop other products like indoor survey.

Apple releases indoor mapping applications and users are starting to feel like the characters in 1984. It may be useful in some instances to your phone in order to find someone you lost in a crowd, but what about privacy? The debate goes on whether the application is useful or intrusive.

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