Chapter 3: Experimentation

My Dell Venue 11 Pro running the latest version of my app

Once I shifted to using the Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet, things started working in the car, but I ran into other difficulties. For starters, I had to purchase another GPS device, one which would work with Windows 10 via USB. I found a u-blox 7 GLONASS/GPS device for a pretty good price on Amazon.

u-blox 7 GLONASS/GPS

I also spent another $4 at Goodwill Computer Works. This time, I bought an HD (720p) capable Logitech C270 Webcam. This camera turned out to be pretty capable. Most of the webcams I bought during the project were limited to 640x480 resolution while this one could handle 720p (1280x720) at 30 fps.

The Logitech C270

 Face detection at home was working okay, but I quickly discovered, in the car, it was never being triggered. So, I decided to add a couple more photo triggers. First, I set up a button on the screen. When clicked, it would cause a photo to be taken (and the corresponding location logged, of course). Also, I set up a timer. Originally, it was set for about two minutes. When it went off, the device would automatically take a photo.

This photo was taken automatically via timer.

This image was captured manually. I had the Dell on the front seat next to me while I was driving, and I could tap a button to quickly snap a photo from the camera.

I even experimented with having the timed photos take a sequential batch. My thinking, at the time, was to turn those batches into animated .gifs. The results were fun, but I ultimately decided not to pursue this option.

An animated GIF based on the sequential photos I was taking from the timer.

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Chapter 4: Execution

Finally, we set off. It was the day before Thanksgiving, and we left the house around 5:00 AM. We had to make a stop at my parent's, but when we left there, the program was running. The first photo was taken at 5:33 AM.

5:33AM - Even taken from the night vision camera, this is not much to look at. This was triggered manually.

I had modified the program so it could now handle two web cameras simultaneously. Both had face detection active, and both would create a log of all photos along with what triggered them, their GPS location, and the time the photo was snapped.

Night vision mode turned out to be unimpressive:

Note: IR (Infrared) reflects off of a window just like any other light would.

 After awhile, the sun came up, and I realized my positioning of the forward facing camera was not quite idea:

Not the best camera placement in the world.

I tried to make some adjustments to the camera, and I ended up triggering the face detection:

Probably not the most flattering selfie in the world, but maybe the most complicated?

 After a couple of stops and adjustments, I got something better:

Finally, a decent camera angle from the dashboard.

The other camera, meanwhile, had been snapping photos out the right hand window.

Choctaw Casino

Some building...?

I pressed the manual trigger buttons a lot. Anytime I thought there might be something interesting if I could time it right. I ultimately ended up running the first few hours on my MacBook Pro until the power inverter I was using to charge it started overheating. Then, I ran the rest on my Dell. Amazingly, it worked, even detecting a face or two along the way:

I just want to know: Why was it detecting this as a face when it wasn't detecting so many others?!

Data collected, it was time to move onto the final stage of the project.

Final Chapter >