The $25 Computer: Is it Real?

Last December I wrote about the exponential growth of geospatial technology in an article titled “Will We Be a Billion Times More Geospatially Intelligent in Thirty Years?” This week, well-known game developer David Braben said he’s working on a computer that will cost only $25. This represents one of those growth technologies that might be exponential in bringing geospatial (and other) technology to a broader base of users.

A $25 Computer?

In a world where multi-gigahertz, multi-core processors, and gigabytes of memory are the standard, it’s easy to forget that there’s a lot of overhead that isn’t necessary. When you boil it down, a computer doesn’t need to be very big at all. In fact, all the components you need outside of a monitor and keyboard can fit inside a small USB stick. Not only small, but inexpensive, according to reknowned game developer David Braben. In a Youtube video, Braben describes how he’s designing the device for children who don’t have access to a computer at home or a mobile phone.

“In theory, they could be given away to the child…”, said Braben.

He’s hoping that it will help educated children in “understanding how you put together little scripts that might run on websites…we all look at things like Facebook, like Twitter, also e-mail that a lot of kids are disconnected from,” said Braben. “The wealthier kids in the class will have access to a computer at home. They ‘ll have access to a mobile phone, but a lot of kids won’t and this would hopefully fill the gap.”

Called the Raspberry Pi, Braben says the computer on a USB stick will cost as little as £10-15 (about US $25) with one end consisting of a standard HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) port to connect to a display such as a television or monitor. The other end of the stick is a standard USB interface to connect to a keyboard.

The Raspberry PI illustrates how much overhead is in the computers we purchase today. If you really boil a computer down to its core components, it is amazingly small, powerful, and inexpensive.

Take a look at this short Youtube video (2m 30s) of Mr. Braben describing his device.

Mind you, I don’t think Mr. Braben has any thoughts of how this technology can be applied to geospatial applications, but I can’t help envisioning a tiny GPS receiver, bluetooth transceiver, and some flash storage embedded in the device. A Bluetooth transceiver can interface to various input devices such as keyboards and microphones, and output to devices like 3D goggles and other emerging display technology.

Combining this micro-sized technology with augmented reality, which is just now gaining formidable traction, there are some really, really high-tech, highly productive and low-cost geospatial tools. For example, imagine a technican searching for an underground water pipe or natural gas line. By donning a pair of high-tech goggles with display technology built-in and an accurate as-built map of the underground infrastructure, the technician can “see” the pipe (and valves, fittings, etc.) buried underground before breaking ground with a shovel or backhoe.

As a refresher or if you haven’t read my previous articles about augmented reality, it’s a really game-changing technology not only in the world of consumer electronics, but also in the world of geospatial technology. The following video was presented at a TED conference in early 2010 by Bing Maps architect Blaise Aguera y Arcas. It’s an eight minute video that’s entertaining and enlightening.

While still under development by a team of volunteers, Mr. Braben says they hope to be shipping the device within a year. If you’re interested in the technical specifications:

• ARM11 700 MHz processor
• 128 MB RAM
• OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics with 1080p output.
• SD card slot
• Linux operating system

As we’re looking forward to where geospatial technology is heading, some really high-tech stuff is coming into view and within reach. Within reach not only wth respect to technology but also financially. Keep in mind that the vast majority of the world’s population has never used e-mail or browsed the web.

Morocco next week. I’ll be attending the FIG conference in Marrakech, Morocco, next week. I look forward to meeting new friends in the geospatial world and reporting back to you what interesting stories I find.

Thanks, and see you next week.

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