So what is this new "Sensor and Location Platform" in Windows 7?

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Now that this new platform has been announced, I thought I would take a minute to give a quick overview of what this platform is, and what you can do with it. We'll get into more detail for each of these components in future posts.

The Sensor and Location platform implements native support for sensor and location devices on Windows. This means there's now a standard way to deal with sensor and location data and devices on Windows!

At a high level, the platform is comprised of the following:

  • Sensor Device Driver Interface (DDI)
    The sensor DDI provides a standard way to integrate sensor hardware with Windows. This DDI is based on the UMDF (User Mode Driver Framework) and it makes developing sensor drivers easier than ever.
  • Sensor COM Application Programming Interface (API)
    The Sensor API provides a common way to discover, connect to, and receive data from sensors on Windows 7 systems
  • Location COM API and Scriping Interface
    On Windows 7 applications, desktop gadgets, and script clients can seamlessly access the computer's current location via straightforward interfaces. Multiple applications, desktop gadgets, and script clients can simultaneously access the computer's current location!
  • Location and Other Sensors Control Panel and Permissions Model
    On Windows 7, access to the data exposed by sensors and location devices can be managed by the user of the computer. In this way, potentially sensitive data is under control of the user.
  • Developer Tools
    You will find documentation, tools, and samples in both the Windows 7 SDK, and the Windows 7 WDK for developing sensor and location drivers, and applications. In addition to that, a sensor hardware development kit will be available that includes hardware and source code for firmware, drivers, and applications.

So this gives you an idea of the components that are new for sensors and location in Windows 7. We'll get into each of these in depth in the months to come. Stay tuned...

You can learn more about the Windows 7 Sensor and Location Platform by visiting our new WHDC site, and developer forum:

WHDC site: https://www.microsoft.com/whdc/sensors

Developer Forum: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowssensorandlocationplatform/threads 

See ya,
Gavin