The idea of augmented reality is to marry our real physical world with computer-based information in real time to provide a better understanding of place, enhancing what we see and experience. Much of the concept is geospatial in nature, with the need for georeferenced information that can be correlated with our location in order to provide details in context. Seeing what is around us, with the added details from computer databases and visualizations, will give a new window on the world with enormous potential.

There are many research projects and commercial ventures that aim to create immersive experiences using augmented reality. The term has been applied to paper-based visualizations such as GE’s Smart Grid visualization that marry a printed pattern on paper with your web camera to allow you to manipulate what you see on the screen. There are also a number of mobile-based forays to enhance what you see through the orientation of your camera phone, such as the map tracking application developed by the Christial Doppler Laboratory. These early technologies give a taste of what is possible, but just scratch the surface of the future promise.

Discovery

A primary benefit of augmented reality is the discovery of new places with applications such as a virtual tourist guide that will give you details about what you’re seeing and could direct you to new areas of interest. With exploration of spaces that are new to us, augmented reality has the potential to greatly enhance our experience and discovery of a new place.

Not only can this correlation of place-based detail provide you with a richer understanding of what you’re seeing, there’s also the potential for a virtual scout to give you details in advance of your arrival. Imagine receiving details about your journey in advance of your current location, such as the awareness of special events that are taking place at your destination. Being able to see over the horizon has enormous potential if coupled to real-time information such as traffic congestion or weather ahead.

Design Implications

The top CAD vendors Bentley and Autodesk have their eye on augmented reality to bring 2D drawings to life. The idea is to bring a 2D or 3D rendering to the building site in order to visualize the design in context. The potential of this type of application could go far beyond what’s possible with just a 3D display, to see and explore the design where the design will live.

Augmented reality could be a great help throughout the construction process to access detailed drawings as a building is being assembled. Viewing design details in this context could greatly speed the construction process by reducing uncertainty and eliminating errors. Augmented reality would reveal far more details than are available in 2D presentation media.

Mobile Platforms Poised

The mobile platforms of Google Android and Apple iPhone are both poised to offer point and view capabilities that marry the device magnetometer, GPS location, and the phone’s camera to reveal details based on the location and orientation of the device. There’s a brief YouTube video from HTC Magic that shows the Android device orientation changing what is visible in Google’s Street View, and there’s already an augmented reality travel guide on this platform called Wikitude that is available in Germany and the Netherlands.

The popularity of both of these mobile devices, coupled with their usage already for location-based services, means that augmented reality will receive a huge boost in the near future as these platforms are harnessed by creative developers. While the size of these devices is a limitation, their ubiquity should prime the well for more serious augmented reality development.

With augmented reality comes a whole new level of need for place-based information of the world around us. We’ll all want to have a much greater understanding of the history and interrelation of objects, and each of these objects will have to be captured with their precise location.

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Note: This column alternates weekly between Vector1 Media editors. Matt Ball is editor Americas/Asia Pacific for V1 Magazine and V1 Energy magazine.