In order to get the coordinated to be uploaded to the database, they need to be set as global variables so they are accessible in other functions. In the GPS location function, the latitude and longitude coordinates are passed to the two global variables to store the latest current location. Once in a while, this locks up the phone when trying to get the last coordinates from the phone from the slight variations in the phone movement and which latitude and longitude numbers are being passed. On the button action for “Stop Tracking” the php url is called which is set to input a query of the latitude and longitude into the database. This is done like a regular php database script which requires logging into the database with a username and password then connecting to the database.

Database Connection:
These are the few lines of code in the iPhone application which make the connection:

NSURL *url = [[NSURL alloc] initWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://www.mywebsite.com/thephpscript.php?lat=%@&lng=%@",coordLat,coordLng]]; //the lat, lng is for the php script and the coordLat, coordLng is teh global variables set in the iPhone application for each coordinate

NSURLRequest *urlRequest = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
NSData *urlData;
NSURLResponse *response;
urlData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:urlRequest returningResponse:&response error:nil]; //this is all needed to connect and send out the information to the url

Then the following is added into the head portion of the thephpscript.php:
$_SERVER(‘QUERY_STRING’);
$latitude = $_GET['lat']; //stores the query input in the url into the variable $latitude
$longitude = $_GET['lng']; //stores the query input in the url into the variable $longitude

Then the values need to be added to the database:
$sql = (“INSERT INTO tablename (lat, lng) //lat, lng are the column names in the database
VALUES (\”$latitude\”,\”$longitude\”)”);

The map page that displays the latitude and longitude values from the database variables are then pulled up by requesting all the stored coordinates and placing a nose icon marker at each location.

References:
There are some code references available online through the iPhone developer website.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/

There are frameworks that are available for use which have a lot of different functions that you need to complete your application but examples of how to use them are necessary for the beginner since the simple explanations on the developer site are not enough to explain how to use them and where to put everything you need. Finding out which framework is needed for the application is only know from previous use or web searching for references of what function is needed. A listing of the frameworks can be found here: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/#section=Frameworks.

Other difficulties include have a key-pair and certificate match up from the iPhone and computer paired together with the developers name. It wasn’t as simple as to download the certificate and drop it into the key access. A new certificate had to be made from the computer which the iPhone application would be uploaded from and uploaded to the developer site. Then they would issue you a certificate that would have to be downloaded and dropped into the key access. This creates the signing pair between the request and the certificate which was causing a lot of problems when just trying to upload the application for trial and error on the iPhone. To obtain a developers license, it costs $99 per year and is available at http://developer.apple.com/programs/start/register/create.php .

I’m still lacking a complete understanding of the syntax for the iPhone which is a combination of Cocoa Touch which seems to have more to do with button and interface interaction, Objective C which is the general syntax of the rest of the iPhone coding with headers and main files, and the frameworks which can be added into the individual applications.

Smellscape Application:
This project is left wide open for the users to input anything that they correlate to the sense of smell. The application requires a translation between the smell being sensed to a visual or audio component. The only constraints for the visual is the limitation of how many url addresses should be placed in the database. Once these values are filled up for the one smell location, no more can be added for the single entry. So, for each scent entry there can be 8 images with the urls that take up the 8 database text lines for the single coordinate. The images are added as a type of layering of scent; a visual description of an event or an object and how it constructs the scent. There is no specific order to which scent comes first, they are just added in the order in which they are input. This leaves the image choices up to the user which varies from person to person. The same smell can be described in many different ways because of a person’s recollection to past experiences of the scent.

The audio component is also wide open in which it can be seen as a current verbal description of the smell and the events that are ongoing at the time of recording or as a historical account of a memory of interaction which the scent and what it reminds someone of. This causes a displacement between the existing smell and the origin location of the historical memory establishing a link between different coordinate locations around the globe.

The important feature of this application is the collective gathering of all users experiences of scent which varies in images that are included and audio portions. These point back to personal experiences and the way in which a single scent can bring about something different from person to person.

  Smellscape

This iPhone application allows users to map experiences of olfaction in their everyday life. Through the use of this application, users can record their spatial experience with a geographically located scent by translating into an auditory and/or visual component. The auditory translation can range from a simple description of the scent to a story which involved a past encounter with the scent. The visual translation allows for the user to select a range of 10 images to describe the scent. These translations are attached o the GPS location generated by the phone and timestamped. The user can then add to the collective database by submitting their scent record to the Smellscape website. The Smellscape website contains all the information uploaded by all users of the iPhone application.

Screenshots of application:

(figure1)
To launch application, select the Smellscape application.

(figure2)
Opens to a map screen to obtain your GPS location.

(figure3)
Select the “Start Tracking” button to find your position on the map. Your GPS location will be traced with a blue line as you move around and the map will rotate based on the position of your iPhone so that the map always faces up according to the compass direction your phone is positioned in space. When your location is settled for the origin of the scent you want to record, select the “Stop Tracking” button.

(figure4)
After the “Stop Tracking” button is pressed, a window pops up providing the notification that your location information has been added to the iPhone’s internal database. If you select “Start Tracking” again, the new position will replace the old stored GPS location. The window also provides directions on what to do next, “Add Audio and/or Visual”.

(figure5)
To continue, you must press return on the window and it will bring you back to the map screen. The “Audio” and “Visual” tabs are available at the bottom of the Smellscape application window. If you choose to add a sound component, continue to figure 6. If you choose to only add an image component, continue to figure 11.

(figure6)
After you select the “Audio” tab at the bottom of the window, a new screen will appear. This shows the capability to record an audio component to attach to the scent location recorded on the map.

(figure7)
To begin recording, press the “Record Audio” button. Then begin speaking.

(figure8)
While you are recording audio, the “Record Audio” button changes its title to “Stop Recording” for when you finish.

(figure9)
When you finish recording, press the “Stop Recording” button. You can then play back the file to listen to it. If you are not happy with the recording, simply press the “Record Audio” button again and talk.

(figure10)
When the file is completed, you can attach the audio file to the GPS location by selecting the “Add Story” button. This will add the audio file to the database.

(figure11)
There is another tab located at the bottom of the Smellscape window for “Visual”. After you select the “Visual” tab at the bottom of the window, another screen will appear. This will allow you to add images to describe the scent at the GPS location creating a visual component to attach to the scent location recorded on the map. The screen loads Google Image Search so you can search for any images that relate to or describe the scent.

(figure12)
Click onto the Google search bar. The keyboard will then appear on the screen. Type in the search line a word that describes the scent.

(figure13)
Then press the “Search” button to begin the image search.

(figure14)
This will display the image results. You can scroll through the window to find the perfect image that best describes the scent at the location.

(figure15)
When you find the image, click on it to select it.

(figure16)
This will bring up an option to see the image full size. Select the text “See full size image”.

(figure17)
The image is then loaded to fit the window of the iPhone.

(figure18)
If this is the image you want to add to the location, select the “Add Image” button. This will add the URL of the image to the database.

(figure19)
If you would like to add a layered scent description because there is more than one word to describe the scent at the location, press the “Reset” button.

(figure20)
This will bring you back to the Google Image Search page. From here you would continue to add up to 10 images to the database for the location.

(figure21)
After the audio and/or visual components are added, you can select the “Contribute” tab at the bottom of the Smellscape window. This will load the Smellscape website that contains all of the uploaded scent locations and translations from the application users. All locations will be seen based on the time of day the scent occurred. The icons grow and shrink based on the timestamp of the uploaded scent information. They only appear 2 hours before the recorded timestamp and 2 hours after. All other times of the day, the icon will not be displayed representing the temporality of smells. As it approached the 2 hour marks, the icon will appear as a small dot increasing in size to the time the scent was recorded. Then will begin to shrink again for the remaining 2 hours.

(figure22)
By pressing the “Add Smell” button, you upload your scent information to the collective database online available for all Smellscape application users.

(figure23)
This will add a nose icon to the recorded GPS scent location. The icon will be larger in size because the scent was just recorded and is within the 4 hour visibility range.

(figure24)
You can then select a nose icon to view the attached information. This will display the audio and/or visual components. If you select the speaker icon, it will play the attached audio file. Or you can choose to pan through the uploaded images.

(figure25)
If the location does not contain an audio file, the speaker icon will represent this still displaying the attached scent descriptive images.

Smellscape Demonstration:

SmellScape

This iPhone application will allow users to map experiences of olfaction in their everyday life. Through the use of this application, users can visually represent smells in the environment based on predefined categories. The categories include Animals, Death, Earth, Events, Food, Garbage, Materials, Plants and Pollution. Inside of these six main topics are subcategories which further define possible types of smells that could exist in the atmosphere.

So, how do you use this application? Once the app is downloaded onto your iPhone, simply take a walk. When you launch SmellScape (figure 1), you GPS location will be shown on a map on the screen (figure 2). If this is not your location, you can pan around with your fingers and reset your location. This is the location at which the scents will be registered and centered on. Once your location is found, there are four options available at the bottom of the screen. Since there are no recorded smells yet, lets add one by selecting the Add Scent icon.

figure 1

figure 2

Once the Add Scent icon is selected, a menu will pop up (figure 3). This menu contains nine main categories of scent. Select a corresponding image to the type of smell that you are recording. There may be several scents associated to describe the atmospheric conditions, but this will be the first or one of the layers. For instance, here we will select the main category Food.

figure 3

When the Food icon is pressed, a new window pops up with the subcategories defined under food (figure 4). These are the graphics that will appear on the map describing the scent at your GPS location. Make the selection which best describes the food aroma in the air. Here we have selected Fruits.

figure 4

The fruit icon shows up on the map in the default color black (figure 5). You can relocate the scent in your GPS location by dragging around the icon image. You can also resize the fruit by pinching and zooming with your fingers (figure 6). This scale increase or decrease will represent the surrounding area in which it is spread.

figure 5

figure 6

Now we are unclear as to what specific fruit this visual icon is actually representing. So, we will add color to the icon to give it more distinction rather than leaving it as the default black color which could possibly suggest that the fruit was rotted. So, we will select the Color icon at the bottom of the screen. Once the Color icon is selected, a color menu will pop up (figure 7).

figure 7

Select the color that best represents the type of fruit is smells like. The graphic will change color on the map (figure 8). Here we selected Orange so that this could be an orange fruit smell outside. Now there can be multiple layers to a scent when we describe it. There is never a clear this is this smell. We use the phrase ‘it smells like…’ to describe scent and usually this description consists of more than one object. So lets keep layering on the descriptive odors in the air.

figure 8

The next category chosen here from Add Scent was an Animal and Cat. The color selected was brown. This is just a guess as to what kind of cat this may have been. If we selected yellow, it could possibly be a lion. Now we come across the possibility that the cat smell is not as strong as the orange smell. So, to represent the strength or intensity, we use transparency (figure 9). This allows us to see the overlapping aromatic descriptions of what we have encountered and visual iconic pieces of memory chosen to describe it.

figure 9

Scent is subjective so the visual context displayed in the application is your description of the smell. Someone else may choose to describe it differently based on their experience with the scent and how they relate to it. This application is meant to bring all of these visual ties of memory to a mapping environment describing the places which surround us.

Working Categories and Subcategories
Animals
Sponges, Jellyfish
Sea urchins, starfish
Amphibians
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals: Humans, Whales, Elephants, Cats, Rodents, Bats, Marsupials, Monkeys, Rabbits
Crabs
Insects
Earthworms, Leeches

Earth
Water
Dirt
Trees: Leaves
Grass
Rocks
Coal

Events
Christmas: Pine Trees
Thanksgiving
Fourth of July: Fireworks
Easter: Colored Eggs
Halloween
Memorial Day
St. Patrick’s Day
Valentines Day
New Years
Birthdays
Picnics

Food
Grains
Vegetables
Fruits
Fats and Oils
Milk and Dairy
Meat
Beans: Coffee
Fish
Nuts
Spices
Herbs
Preservatives: Sugar

Garbage
Feces
Trash
Landfills: Sulfur Dioxide

Materials
Glass
Paper
Concrete
Metal
Plastic / Vinyl
Drywall
Plaster
Ceramics
Fabric
Nylon
Rubber

Plants
Flowers
Leaves
Trees

Pollution
Gasoline / Fuel
VOCs: Paints / Finishes, Cleaning Products, Emissions, Formaldehyde
Chemicals
Smoke
Fire
Dust
Adhesives / Glue

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http://www.odditycentral.com/news/chinese-artist-creates-edible-model-of-shanghai.html
Artist: Song Dong
Project: Eating the City
Overview:
Mini replica of the city made out of biscuits, wafers, cookies and candy.

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http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/29/opinion/20090829-smell-map-feature.html
Artist: Jason Logan
Project: Scents and the City
Overview:
Documenting personal experience of common and recurrent summer smells in NYC.

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http://www.ediblegeography.com/talking-nose/
Artist: Sissel Tolaas
Project: Talking Nose
Overview:
A study of Mexico City’s environmental chemical signals in its over two hundred different neighborhoods which researches and identifies the key smells of each.

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http://www.estherwu.com/
Artist: Esther Wu
Project: The Whiff of Uncertainty
Overview:
Recording the time, location and duration of baking at Dunkin’ Donuts to look for a scent pattern.

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http://georginabister.com/blog/
Artist: Georgina Bister
Project: The Highline and the Idea of Elevated Space
Overview:
N/A

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http://www.jennymarketou.com/works_2008_7.html
Artist: Jenny Marketou
Project: Smell It
Overview:
The map urges the visitors while walking to discover and to record olfactory experiences among the urban concrete as a challenge and a thrill and finally upon return to the gallery to make their olfactory notations in color directly on the smell map.

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http://nikicrosslab.blogspot.com/2010/04/ernesto-neto.html
Artist: Ernesto Neto
Project: Léviathan Thot
Overview:
Working with herbs in bags suspended from the ceiling leaking on the floor and leaving color patterns.

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http://wayoftherodent.com/bonus/CGEUK%20Judith%20Mann.htm
Artist: Judith Mann
Project: The Curious Emissions of CGEUK
Overview:
A smell map of the CGEUK (Classic Gaming Expo UK) event.

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http://www.physorg.com/news187360582.html
Research Facility: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Topic: Desert Ants use Olfaction for Navigation
Overview:
Desert ants use olfactory clues to navigate back to their nests by memorizing several scent sources in the vicinity.

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http://www.physorg.com/news187360582.html
Research Facility: NASA
Topic: Smell of Outer Space Recreated for NASA
Overview:
Outer space smells like metal, fried steak and welding. Chemists are recreating the smell in order to train NASA astronauts.

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http://carbonfoodprint-foodpairing.blogspot.com/
Research Facility: Sense for Taste
Topic: Carbon Food Print
Overview:
The orange wheel shows different scent categories of key odorants of an orange. Picking one product from each color will recreate the smell of an orange.

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http://www.inb.uni-luebeck.de/forschung/eops/?searchterm=None
Research Facility: Institut für Neuro- und Bioinformatik
Topic: Exploring Olfactory Perception Space
Overview:
This olfactory map provides a new study for the olfactory system related to olfactory perception rather than the structure of chemical compounds.