home | Featured

Concept: Blended Reality Treadmill w/ Hiking Trails

You’ve spent the whole day in Corporate America and wish you had the time to be outdoors. You’re thinking some exercise is better than no exercise, so you forgo the hotel bar and go to the fitness center instead.

Walking in you see a new treadmill. The tread is gray with a gravelly pattern. The handlebar is polished wood, like a well-worn walking stick. All of the components are subtle earth tones, instead of the black plastic and shiny metal you might expect.

Stepping onto the treadmill, you scan the console and are surprised that there are no visible controls. You then take in the wide-screen display that is an arm’s reach away. The display is showing a slideshow of idyllic nature scenes and says “touch to begin.”

You touch the screen and the slideshow dissolves into a menu of options:

• Appalachian Trail
• John Muir Trail
• Long Trail
• Resume Saved Hike…

Interesting. You always wanted to hike the AT, so you choose that option. Another menu is displayed, prompting you to choose a direction:

• North
• South

And then a section:

• Georgia
• North Carolina
• Tennessee
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Maryland
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• New York
• Massachusetts
• Vermont
• New Hampshire
• Maine

You choose North and then Georgia. A picture of the Springer Mountain trailhead is displayed, with a hiker registry. The registry lists a number of people’s names, with the date and time they departed, how long they have hiked and distance attained. The screen prompts you to sign the registry to begin your hike. A touchscreen keyboard is illuminated on the console, and you are prompted for your name. You enter your name and touch the phrase “start hiking.” The screen dissolves to show the trail itself and alerts you that the treadmill will now begin.

As the treadmill starts moving, a first person video view of the hike is displayed in high definition. You hear the sound of your feet crunching on the trail, the sounds of birds and insects, and of the breeze rustling the leaves. Subtly displayed along the bottom are a number of informational displays - map, location, speed, pace, distance, distance remaining (2,174.9 miles!), elapsed time, slope, elevation and distance to next scenic overlook. There are also 3 controls: “Take a Break”, “Turn Around” and “Save Hike…”

You arrive at a rise in the trail that affords a gorgeous view. You touch “Take a Break” and the treadmill slows down and a slideshow of photographs taken from that location is displayed. The slideshow shows the flora, fauna, seasons, sunrise and sunset, fog, snow and rain. Some of the items have links to more information on Wikipedia and the DK visual encyclopedia. There are links to podcasts about that location, which when played can be listened to while the hike continues. The “Walk in the Woods” audiobook by Bill Bryson is also available.

You touch “Get Going!” and the treadmill and crunch–crunch–crunch sounds resume. The trail goes down at this point, and you realize that the tread has tilted forward, so you feel like you’re walking downhill. You continue your hike up and down - simulated automatically by the pitch of the tread - and you feel work melt away as you enjoy the nature sounds and take in the exquisite detail of the high definition scenery.

An hour passes and you’re ready to stop for the day. The ascents and descents were a good workout. You touch “Save Hike…” and are then prompted for an email address and password. The touchscreen keyboard, which had since disappeared, is illuminated once again. You enter in the requested information and save your hike. A confirmation is displayed:

• “Your hike has been saved. You may resume your hike from any Nature Hike Treadmill.”

The screen then informs you of the following features:

In the Virtual World:

• Resume your hike on any Nature Hike Treadmill.
• Track your progress online.
• Share your progress on your blog or website.
• Invite friends in Facebook to hike with you.
• View other photos automatically geotagged for this hike.

In the Real World

• Add your own geotagged photos while you hike
• Twitter to virtual hikers so your messages are seen where you write them.

You return to your hotel room and check your email. You receive an email informing you of the aforementioned features, with links to view information on their website. The copy invites you to return and challenges you to complete the entire AT!

~~~~~~~
Other Ideas

• Sponsor Trail Sections - North Face, National Geographic, etc.
• Recommend a Hike
• Message board
• Simple Smellivision
• Fans to recreate light breezes synchronized with the video

© 2008 Nathan Verrill.