NJIT implements SmartCampus people-tracking program
By Evan Blass 
posted Jan 26th 2006 8:26AM
posted Jan 26th 2006 8:26AM
After our kids finish their super-safe education in
the Freehold Borough School District, we think we'll keep them in New Jersey where we'll still be able to keep an
unhealthy eye on them thanks to the New Jersey Institute of Technology's pilot program for tracking students and
faculty on campus. Limited initially to only 100 participants, the ultimate goal of the SmartCampus project is to
eventually allow everyone to see exactly where everyone else is at any given time (hmm, can't really forsee any
socially awkward situations arising out of this omniscience). The NJIT system, organized and run by Dr. Constantine
Manikopoulos and other members of the campus community from various disciplines, requires users to carry around
tracking devices, as opposed to a similar system at MIT which seems to
rely on users' laptops for locating them (but maybe not- can anyone from these two schools clear this up?). Luckily the
SmartCampus gear allows users to turn "invisible" whenever they want, so would-be stalkers will have to leave
their notebooks at home and continue trailing their victims the old-fashioned way.
If you can turn invisible then what's the use of it? Everyone will be invisible.
It's not "omnipotence", but rather "omniscience". The former means unlimited power, the latter means unlimited knowledge.
Sounds more like omniscient then omnipotent.
I graduated from NJIT a two years ago, my roomate at the time was involved with this project, and it was to be integrated into the student’s laptops... Perhaps for some unknown reason they have since changed it to a stand-alone devise.
wtf.
Screw this, im moving to siberia.
Actually the applications that the SmartCampus group is developing are intended to be run on any device that supports wireless communication; laptops, smart phones, tablet PCs, specialized standalone devices, etc...
Also, "everyone" can not see you unless you want them to. Most likely you would usually only want your friends and/or classmates to see where you are. "Let's meet where I am currently sitting."
Bruce Da Juice is on the prowl stalking!!
This summary of the article found at http://www.physorg.com/news10224.html is in fact ill informed at best.
By using the popular coined term "tracking" there is a great negative connotation since many of us typically think of it as some Sci-Fi big brother keeping an eye on you with not so realistic futuristic machines enslaving man-kind.
However, there is a great deal of detail involved with exactly what technologies you are using, how you use them, and for what purpose. This is the truth to "tracking" people if you will. The SmartCampus Initiative is using data points from location traces. This would include things such as GPS coordinates for exterior building references and WI-FI RSSID finger printing (which may include aspects such as signal to noise ratios between WI-FI access points). Now, these types of location data are good for knowing locations such as buldings, classrooms, even places with a more personal label such as a specific area witin a room, etc. Then the next question you may have is but what about person to person proximity detection and all the fun interesting social interactions that may result from it? Some of you may think Bluetooth. It all sounds easy and simple, but the real question is how and what combinations of technologies will work best? How do we incorporate the possiblities without jeopordizing the personal privacy of everyone? This is what many of us, as a part of SmartCampus, have been working through, all the little details of how, what, when, and where.
From a more detailed example oriented perspective, location traces containing the location data points of our many volunteers, stored in a database, will be used in conjunction with algorithms that will find common locations and their association with personal labels (commonly known as place). After mapping out common places, a separate software system will use this information (hidden from all users) in conjunction with other information such as an individual's hobbies to make recommendations to another individual who may have similar interests. This sounds like an online dating service but it can be extended much further. For example, students will be able to find study groups on campus much easier, tutoring in courses that they are struggling in by one of their peers, and even recreational partners for different sports. Other aspects can be improved such as bridging the age old communication gap between the student body and the administration body of schools. These are only some of the possiblities that we are working towards.
Haha Does this remind anyone else of that map in Harry Potter?
As a reply to #8, yes, its true. Our professor had this initial idea for many years, and now that the Harry Potter movie is out, uses that map as an example to what our programs can do. It's an impressive little ditty.