Sensors, Devices, and the Location API

Abstract

In many ways, Windows 8 is about connection. Notifications and tiles connect applications to their users, Search and Share connect applications’ data, and the use of web services connects to data in the cloud. In this chapter, you will learn about how sensors and other devices are used to connect Windows 8 computers with the physical world around them. I will discuss the accelerometer, inclinometer, compass, and ambient light sensors as well as the geolocation API and the Camera device. Because this book is not geared to advanced programming topics, I will not go beyond a brief introduction to each of these subjects; I will provide a simple exercise to give you some exposure to programming for each.

The torrent of centuries rolling over the human race has continually brought new perfections, the cause of which, ever active though unseen, is found in the demands made by our senses, which always in their turns demand to be occupied. —Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin