The mapping technology, Google says, will enable mobile phones to have a "human-scale understanding of space and motion," allowing for a deeper interaction with the surrounding environment.
James Martin
James Martin is the Managing Editor of Photography at CNET.
His photos capture technology's impact on society - from the widening wealth gap in San Francisco, to the European refugee crisis and Rwanda's efforts to improve health care.
From the technology pioneers of Google and Facebook, photographing Apple's Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai, to the most groundbreaking launches at Apple and NASA, his is a dream job for any documentary photography and journalist with a love for technology.
Exhibited widely, syndicated and reprinted thousands of times over the years, James follows the people and places behind the technology changing our world, bringing their stories and ideas to life.
When Google sold off Motorola Mobility, it held onto the Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) assets -- and it appears we're now getting a bit of look at Google's bigger-picture vision behind the reason why: Project Tango.
Google has been working with universities, research labs, and industrial partners to build a unique 3D mapping-capable mobile phone. The device, Google says, will enable mobile phones to have a "human-scale understanding of space and motion," allowing for a deeper interaction with the surrounding environment.
2 of 7 Google/Screenshot
Prototype phone
Tango exists as a 5-inch Android phone prototype. The prototype phone has customized hardware and software, which allows it to track the motion of the device in full 3D in real time. The suite of sensors can make more than 250 million 3D measurements every second.
3 of 7 Google/Screenshot
3D models of the surrounding environment
The phone then uses the data to build a single 3D model of the surrounding environment. Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics, says the device will solve the indoor navigation problem.
4 of 7 Google/Screenshot
Custom hardware
The prototype phone includes a 4MP camera, two computer vision processors, integrated depth sensing, and a motion tracking camera.
5 of 7 Google/Screenshot
Project Tango concept
The front and back of the Project Tango concept phone.
6 of 7 Google/Screenshot
Real world to virtual world
With the indoor mapping technology, the prototype phone can be used to make quick and easy virtual world re-creations of real-world environments.
7 of 7 Google/Screenshot
From research to real world
Johnny Lee of Google's Advanced Technology and Projects says this unique phone is the product of 10 years of thinking put into one fundamentally different prototyping device, potentially changing what a phone is and could be.
