-
-
Track Field Agent location in realtime to circumnavigate property to ensure accuracy of GPS and no spoofing.
-
Live street view with Google Maps street view to confirm actual location and ensure GPS spoofing app not used.
Inspiration
Our virtual inspection software is only as good as the validity of the location of the remote party ("field agent").
What it does
We track the GPS coordinates and surface in the Google Maps location in real-time where the field agent is located and also use Street View to prevent fraud from GPS spoofing apps.
How we built it
We request access to the GPS coordinates in Javascript, then poll their location with watchPosition(). Then we upload those every 10 seconds to the cloud where the Inspector dashboard polls to get the current field agent location to show on the map. We also surface street view to ensure the 180 degree view matches what the Inspector is seeting.
Challenges we ran into
getCurrentPosition() was first used, but often was not accurate. Upon further research we had to change to watchLocation() which is much more accurate. It took quite a while to get the correct parameters for cacheTime, timeout, accuracy, etc. to work in the real-world.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We spent alot of time on detecting devices that use GPS spoofing apps. We even filed a patent on our ideas. We think the combination of that along with the realtime showing of the property address map and the moving position of the field agent, allows the Inspector to have the field agent circumnavigate the property and the moving map marker will match the route. That, combined with the 360 degree street view, effectively ensures 100% the field agent is at the correct location.
What we learned
We learned this is much more complex than we expected and we also learned and were disappointed that the operating system doesn't tell the browser that a GPS spoofing app is being used. There should be a flag that the coordinates are not provided by the OS/hardware but by an App.
What's next for VuSpex Live Virtual Inspection
We continue to enhance the live virtual inspection experience by augmenting the map with the satellite view, terrain and other features to facilitate authenticity.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.