{"id":651636,"date":"2020-04-22T23:59:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T06:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-blog-post&p=651636"},"modified":"2020-07-09T09:34:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T16:34:18","slug":"were-going-to-the-park-daily-exercise-using-microsoft-soundscape-part-2","status":"publish","type":"msr-blog-post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/articles\/were-going-to-the-park-daily-exercise-using-microsoft-soundscape-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re going to the park: daily exercise using Microsoft Soundscape \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello, Amos from the Microsoft Soundscape team here again. In a recent article<\/a> we posted, Frazier explained how he uses Microsoft Soundscape to get his daily exercise. This got me thinking about how I use Soundscape for a bit of recreation and not just to get from point A to point B. In this article I share how I take a walk in a near-by park, getting well-needed fresh air, and having quite a bit of fun mixing up my activities to keep my exercise varied and interesting!<\/p>\n

To get started, I went to the park with my wife. We like to get to the park quite early, as it\u2019s usually much quieter first thing in the morning. There is a great variety of trees in this area and, with the scent of spring in the air, it was wonderful to hear the rustle of the new leaves in the breeze. On arrival, we stopped for a moment to mark the entrance to the park by tapping \u201cmark current location\u201d on the Soundscape home screen. Now, wherever we go in the park we can find our way back to the entrance by setting an audio beacon to it.<\/p>\n

There is a path in the park that follows its perimeter surrounding a large field that is split up by more paths running from the perimeter to the center, where there is a large flower bed. While walking along the perimeter path I created a Marker by a statue near the entrance, another at the bench by some rose gardens, and a few more at a couple of key places where footpaths turn towards the center. With these markers in place, I was confident that I could keep myself oriented in the park wherever I might be.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

We are now ready to go. With the Markers in place we have a series of \u201cwalks\u201d that we can do from one marked location to another simply by setting an audio beacon to a Marker of our choice and heading off there. For example, starting at the entrance of the park we locate a path a little to our left that takes us across the center of the park to a bench I marked at the far end of the perimeter. Choosing different destination Markers, we can vary our walks around the park and determine how much or how little exercise we want to do. We can even change direction whenever we want by just choosing another Marker. It is really quite wonderful and while you are indeed not always sure exactly where you are, you never feel lost.<\/p>\n

In fact, there is nothing stopping me going off-road and walking across the park, which is a lot of fun as I am guided by the audio beacon that helps keep me in a straight line across an open space. At some point, I also marked an ancient oak tree in a quiet area of the park; I could feel the ground become more uneven due to the tree\u2019s roots beneath my feet as I approached it, and along with its enormous presence I knew it was there, and now it has become one of my favorite spots in the park.<\/p>\n

My wife and I enjoy walking together, though at times she\u2019ll go her own way and I\u2019ll go mine, depending on what we want to do, and we\u2019ll arrange to meet at a place of our choosing.<\/p>\n

Using Soundscape in this way has opened so many new possibilities in the park and every day feels like I will learn or discover something new. Reaching my daily step target is still there, but I find that it just happens naturally as I\u2019m having so much fun out there.<\/p>\n

If you have used Soundscape to help with your daily exercise, please share your experiences with us via email<\/a>\u00a0or on our\u00a0Soundscape Community Group (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0page on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Hints and Tips<\/h3>\n

Orienting yourself using your Markers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Selecting the \u2018Nearby Markers\u2019 button on the Soundscape home screen will call out up to four of your Markers that are close to you. These Markers will be called out spatially, and the distance to them will be given, so you will be able to hear where they are relative to you.<\/p>\n

Another way to do this is to go to the \u2018Manage Markers\u2019 screen from the Soundscape menu. On this screen, there is a list of all your Markers. In the top right of the screen, there is a \u2018sort\u2019 button, you sort them by distance, then you can run down the list and read the distance and direction to each of your Markers.<\/p>\n

Creating a Marker on your current location<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are two ways to mark your current location:<\/p>\n