HP mscape: Hands-on gaming in a real-world space

Imagine a fourth – digital – dimension all around you.

This new dimension is a synergistic fusion with the physical world. By virtually mixing physical and digital worlds, you can design a game that goes back in time or turns a schoolyard into a moon crater. You create this dimension with digital "tags": sounds and images linked to the Global Positioning System (GPS). Call it a ‘mediascape,’ or just ‘mscape.’

To learn how to digitally “attach” a story or fantasy to a real place, click on www.mscapers.com .

HP Labs is giving away the mscape software to “overlay” a real space – say a street, building or park - with location-sensitive sounds and images that are experienced via an HP iPAQ hand-held computer and headphones. The iPAQ taps signals from positioning system satellites to immerse you in the location-aware adventure.

Mediascapes represent a whole new category of mobile games. Users can also create tours of discovery or art installations - the only constraint is the imagination. Start by downloading ready-made mediascape games and guides at www.mscapers.com and try them out for yourself.

HP Labs mscape authoring toolkit lets you place digital files - voices, images, music and all-important clues - in specific locations. As the players in the game crisscross the space, their movements trigger digital files on the iPAQ.

HP mscape technology makes it possible for a group of friends to transform a park into a virtual game, in which certain trees reveal hidden treasure, a playground becomes a castle, and fairies or monsters appear at predetermined points. Using the mscape portal, you can create a mediascape in as little as 20 minutes.

HP Labs has collaborated with artists, teachers, broadcasters and storytellers in a series of experimental mediascapes. They include a location-aware adventure game at the Tower of London, a re-creation of an infamous riot in Queen's Square, Bristol, UK, and an interactive digital storytelling experience in a San Francisco neighborhood.  There are two types of mediascapes. Portable mediascapes can be played anywhere in the world. You just set it up on your mobile device. Anchored mediascapes are designed for a specific location such as Bristol, Shanghai or Yosemite. You must go to that place for the experience.

Mediascapes takes the experience of digital sounds and images beyond the confines of PC, cinema and TV. Blending online information with gaming, storytelling and the outdoors, they offer people of all ages a new way to experience their surroundings and to develop their own creative mobile experiences.

“Think of mediascapes as a new medium that fuses the physical and digital,” says Phil Stenton, head of the HP Labs Mediascapes team. “Understanding its value will enable us to go beyond the delivery of ‘anything, anytime, anywhere,’ to the delivery of the ‘right thing in the moment.’”

Mediascapes are an example of how wireless technology will affect the way we live and interact within our environment. As mobile technology becomes ever more pervasive over the next decade, users will find themselves virtually plugged-in to an always-on network of contextual data, with all the services, information and experiences they need right there, with them, at all times.

“We see mscapers.com as a community space where mscapers can design, create and share mediascapes with other mscapers around the world,” adds Stenton. “They also have access to a wealth of ready-made mediascapes. For instance, if you plan to visit the Tower of London, why not download and use the mediascape adventure game and learn about some of the Tower’s history by helping historical prisoners to escape?”

Why not, indeed?