From time to time, I have to do some (simple) DIY and organization work at home and I discover a reality: I don’t have a flexometer (colloquially called a meter) at home. So normally I have to draw this mythical 30 centimeter school ruler which accompanied me until my university years. Until I realized something: The mobile camera is used to measure distances. It’s not the most accurate thing in the world, but it can get you out of trouble.
And the best part is that even if it won’t gain in precision, it’s really comfortable. point the goal and have the answer immediately on the screen like the best laser counters. So, taking advantage of an old cell phone that I had at home and which I usually use for testing, I installed a free application that made this possible.
What is it and how does it work?
Please note that in the Google app store there are a few apps to measure distances with your mobile, but not all of them work equally well. In the case of Distance Meter, a free application available on the Google Play Store which, if you follow the instructions to the letterreturns measurements with little error.
As soon as you install it, it logically asks for the permission to access the camera And I can tell you that from time to time an advertisement appears in the foreground or in the form of a banner, but it does not interfere too much with the experience.
Application interface
The idea is this: use the camera to calculate the approximate distance to an object in real time using augmented reality ARCore, something that can be seen by pointing the icon that appears on the screen at different things in the environment and which continually returns a length. Thus, it is capable of detecting flat surfaces (the icon changes layout), focusing light points and the movement of the mobile in space. In this sense and to be more precise, it is interesting to always have the phone at the same height and in the same position (for example by resting it on a place or with a tripod).
In fact, he is capable of determine both the distance and height of an object: for the distance you have to point down and touch the pane that appears on the screen and for the height, point up and click on the pane.
As you see, Its operation couldn’t be simpler.: you open the application in a well-lit space (otherwise a warning message will appear) and choose which of the three functions you are going to use (“distance counter”, “height finder” and “width finder”, which comes to be the same as the second option but in another dimension) and you just need to follow the on-screen instructions.
Best of all, when you press the shutter button you have the option to repeat measurement or record distance (by pressing the download icon it is stored as a photo), in case we need it later. Although the app is in Spanish, occasional messages sometimes appear in English.
It is not a meter so precise and microscopic that it allows marking and making holes in a wall at the millimeter level, but yes, it can get you out of trouble to know if the furniture you want to place fits in a specific space.
rangefinder
Use your Android phone as a laser counter
By | The Spanish
Home page | Eva Rodriguez de Luis
In Xataka Android | How to measure distances and objects with your mobile camera
