Evolution - Programming GPS and OpenStreetMap Applications with Java - page 218

Multi-scenario Augmentation
The list of ROApps indicates their potential variety. On the other hand,
the ROAF is intended to be a collection of realistic live scenarios. ROAF-
certified ROApps can be augmented seamlessly like a collection of live
information. Each ROApp can retrieve as much third-party information as
needed and form a new filter to provide this data to the ROAF.
The London Chase game is initially unrealistic. Nevertheless, it is a
ROAF candidate, since it can be gradually harmonized with reality. The
players could be real people with a GPS smart phone, and the ROApp could
propagate the runner's location selectively. It is important to understand
that the naturally growing ROAF can also be used as a web service for
fictional scenarios.
Formula 1 racing is very popular across the whole world. Every car
is equipped with many telemetric sensors and transmits live. The racing
tracks are publicly available with high precision and could serve as a ROApp
map for a racing scenario. In a fictional environment, the real cars could
be reflected (live playback) as built-in SO racing cars, while an additional
race car could be an external RO. Thus, the RO could actually compete
with the real cars. Today's racing simulations could be connected to the
RO to add real physical behavior according to the car's setup.
Obviously a City application with real tanks driving downtown through
buildings and shooting at each other should, while possible, not be released
to the ROAF. The ROAF could, however, provide the city map and physical
information on streets and buildings to this application.
One of the most significant attributes of the ROAF is the concept of
now. From the developer's point of view, the \switch" is the ROApps GPS
clock. As stated on page 169 : \. . . a ROApp should not be set to real time
to indicate that it is not trying to reect the real world." So by setting
the time to now, as every GPS device can do, a public ROApp is staking a
claim and can be tested against the ROAF. This processing of live data has
many advantages. The most outstanding advantage is to avoid persistence.
It's easy to organize a source for weather data and public transportation
schedules|for today. Schedules are already synchronized implicitly and
can be validated against each other. Simulating any other day in any city
becomes much more complex; the implicit timing is another advantage.
Live synchronization can even augment live cams in the ROAF world and
Formula 1 races can be transmitted by data only, to be reassembled to a
3D animation by various front ends.
The Inception Scenario
To emphasize the idea of using reality as a starting point, science fic-
tion movies can be modeled with ROAF technology. The movie Inception