Introduction to a New World of Technology
Pokémon Go is greater than only a wildly popular game – it’s a window right into a latest, potentially far-reaching technology. While players today hunt Poké monsters, which pop up in real-life gathering spots, in the longer term, the technology will have the opportunity to foster communities that meet face-to-face, give businesses latest ways to bring customers to their location, and permit firefighters to “see” structural vulnerabilities in burning buildings and plot exit routes.
The Technology Behind Pokémon Go
The game has sparked privacy concerns by marrying “augmented reality” or AR, which projects computer video onto physical space, with geolocation, allowing it to trace where a player is. This carries risks in addition to advantages. According to Darrell West, founding director of the Center for Technology Innovation on the Brookings Institution, Pokémon Go is a “primitive version of AR, to make certain,” but it surely’s also an advance look “into the technology our world will wield 10 and even five years from now.”
The Rise of Pokémon Go
Eight days after its July 6 release, Pokémon Go attracted 25 million users, becoming America’s hottest mobile game ever, in line with SurveyMonkey. Since then, the numbers have fallen off somewhat, but it surely stays hugely popular. The game has created a buzz on college campuses, with students flocking to Pokémon gyms and stops. At Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., for instance, the campus is replete with Pokémon gyms and stops, making it certainly one of the higher places in the complete city of Norfolk to go on Poké Walks.
Building Communities
Since the launch of Pokémon, there was an enormous increase in students walking around talking to one another. It’s been really fabulous to see this very real community pop up where persons are talking to one another about shared interests in public spaces. Some were together in those spaces before, but they didn’t have something they were doing together. This has led to plans so as to add Pokémon lures to bring students to temporary outdoor information desks, in addition to placing counseling and writing center stops along Pokémon walks.
Business Applications
The game also has business applications. Restaurants or shops can buy “lures” to attract Pokémon characters to their sites, which in turn draw players who might then buy a soda or snack. This can be the primary time we’ve seen an app that permits a business to really create a vehicle to advertise that attracts people physically to them. According to Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Inc., a market-research firm in San Jose, Calif., this can be a latest way for businesses to achieve customers.
Privacy and Security Concerns
For the sport to work, Pokémon Go requires players to offer access to helpful data on their phones – specifically GPS and camera features. Just a few weeks ago, the app requested “full account access” to much more data, a undeniable fact that analysts found particularly troubling. Niantic has since said that the request was a mistake, and that they didn’t actually use any of it. However, this raises concerns concerning the potential for data theft and the risks related to large gatherings of Pokémon players.
Community Policing Efforts
Despite the concerns, the technology can be allowing the campus police at ODU to expand community policing efforts, rolling up on lured stops to examine in with players, and hanging out and walking with them. This has resulted in an “amazing boon” for community policing efforts, constructing relationships. It is, in line with D.E. Wittkower, an assistant professor who studies the philosophy of technology and culture, “really cool stuff.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, Pokémon Go shouldn’t be only a game, but a window right into a latest world of technology that has the potential to revolutionize the best way we interact with one another and our surroundings. While there are concerns about privacy and security, the advantages of the technology can’t be ignored. As the technology continues to evolve, it can be exciting to see the brand new and modern ways it’s used to construct communities, support businesses, and improve public services.
