Those who used to read my articles here on the blog probably already know me very well. And would probably guess that attending a live concert would be at the top of my list of things to do after events in the United States started to reopen. Promoters were optimistically releasing concert tickets to the public in early April. Guess what? I already had tickets to two shows by the beginning of May.

Since we released Super Lidar at the beginning of this year and didn't have much chance to test it in crowded places, I thought, what could be a better option than taking it to a concert for a test drive?

The first of those concerts occurred on June 22, 2021, at Waterfront Park. The park is a beautiful venue bordering the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky, and the weather was perfect. A perfect day to give Super Lidar a go!

If you’re new to our navigation apps family, Super Lidar is our second app that uses light detection and ranging technology (lidar) to analyze the depth between you and other objects in a given space.

The primary focus of the app now is to help users avoid obstacles. Still, we are expanding the range of what the app could do as development continues. When Super Lidar detects an object at the limit of its 15-foot (5 meters) range, it plays a high pitch sound, which descends as you get closer to the object detected. The phone will also vibrate with increasing intensity as you approach the obstacle.

The first test I put it through was to use Super Lidar to track a person ahead of me as I followed them. We arrived at the show early, so few people were at the venue, making it easy to follow. The pitch changes indicating how far ahead of me the person was. However, I realized that other objects entering the area can disrupt this process. That made me think that following someone with Super Lidar would have been more difficult after the area filled up with people. We were already working on a feature to make this run much more smoothly, but it was good to try it myself and figure out how it responds in real-life situations.

Once I was seated, I tried to use the app to scan the area ahead of me. I was sitting in the front row of a section on the lawn, with a railing between my row and the part of the grass sloping down toward the stage. Arriving early proved to be a huge benefit as I could watch people walking in front of me. But oftentimes, someone would move too quickly for Super Lidar to register their presence before they passed. Another point to work on.

One last thing I noticed was that the 12 Pro I was using heated up very quickly during the use of Super Lidar outside. I am still working to pinpoint whether that was an effect of the app, the sun, or perhaps both, but I'll certainly give it another go and try to eliminate some of these possible reasons.

All in all, I guess both Super Lidar and I enjoyed the concert very much. As the world is gradually going back to normal, at least in the northern hemisphere, I am sure we'll have plenty of options to try Super Lidar on various occasions.

Have you tried Super Lidar yet? What are your opinions? We’d love to hear your feedback on this.

We’d also really love to hear your Super Lidar stories! Please reach out to us with what works well, what isn’t, and any stories of your travel experiences with the app. We're looking forward to reading them!

Till next time!