Location Verification via Landmark Image Matching
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In location-based gaming, players using location spoofing techniques gain unfair advantages and reduce the game's desirability for advertisers and sponsors, as they can access virtual world features without physically being present at specific real-world locations.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that verifies a player's real-world location by using image data of landmarks captured during player movement, prompting players to capture initial and subsequent images of the landmark from different perspectives, and matching these images with stored data, while also confirming physical movement along a verification pathway using movement sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If players use location spoofing technology to report different locations, then players can access virtual world features without physically being present, but this gives unfair advantages to spoofers and reduces the game's desirability for advertisers and sponsors
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures images of landmarks and movement data before and during the player's journey to the destination. By collecting verification evidence in advance and during transit, the system establishes a baseline of authentic player presence before allowing access to location-specific features, preventing spoofers from gaining unfair advantages.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces landmarks as intermediary verification objects between the player and the location verification system. Players must capture images of these landmarks and provide movement data along verification pathways, creating an intermediate layer of proof that authenticates their physical presence without directly monitoring their entire journey.
2Reliability
If the system requires players to capture images and provide movement data for verification, then location spoofing is prevented, but the complexity of the verification process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system leverages the player's own device capabilities (camera, GPS, accelerometer) to collect verification data. Players use their smartphone's built-in features to capture landmark images and record movement information, eliminating the need for external verification equipment and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The verification system uses a single smartphone device to perform multiple functions: capturing landmark images for identification, tracking movement along verification pathways, and providing timestamped location data. This multi-functional approach consolidates what could be separate complex systems into one unified verification process.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A method and system for verifying a client device's location in a parallel reality game hosted by a server. The client transmits its location to the server and receives verification instructions comprising a landmark and a verification pathway. The client prompts a player to capture image data of the landmark and, in response, receives a first set of image data of the landmark from an initial perspective. The client determines whether the first set of image data matches to the landmark before prompting the player to move along the verification pathway while capturing image data. The client receives a second set of image data of the landmark from a moving perspective. The client determines whether the second set of image data matches to an expected change in perspective of the landmark. Upon completion of the verification instructions, the client confirms to the server the client's location.