Earlier this year, Google announced Project Tango. For those unfamiliar with Project Tango and are hearing about it for the first time, well it’s basically a smartphone built by Google that has the ability to measure its surroundings, thus allowing the user to essentially create a 3D map of sorts. This is thanks to the cameras built into Tango that allows it to sense things like depth, so basically one would be able to create a 3D map of the interior of their home.
This might come in handy for interior designers or architects who might require such details and information, but it looks like Google isn’t alone in this. A Spanish startup company called E-Capture R&D has started building their own tablet which will apparently come with 3D sensing capabilities as well. The tablet will be targeted at professionals such as surveyors, civil engineers, architects, and so on.
Dubbed EyesMap, the tablet will function similarly to Project Tango. The tablet will come equipped with a pair of 13MP sensors, a depth sensor, and GPS, all of which will allow the user to measure coordinates, surface, and volume of objects from as far as 70-80m. This means that users can use it to measure entire buildings, rooms, or even close up objects if that’s what they’re after.
The company believes that their tablet will be successful as it basically combines a variety of standalone tools into a single device. Speaking to TechCrunch, E-Captures’s Pedro Ortiz-Coder said, “To [survey small objects], a short range laser scanner is required but, a short-range LS cannot capture big or far away objects. That’s why we thought to create a definitive instrument, which permits the user to scan small objects, indoors, buildings, big objects and do professional works with a portable device.” The EyesMap tablet is expected to be made available at the start of 2015.
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