If last week’s Friday Five about augmented reality caught your interest, here’s a recording of an O’Reilly webcast (also from last week) called “Augmented Reality in One Hour” with more examples of real world use of this technology:
Have you tried any augmented reality applications on your computer or smart phone yet? What do you think?
There’s been a lot of buzz of late about augmented reality, and although it sounds like the premise for science fiction, it’s very real and something you can check out on your smart phone or television today.
Simply put, augmented reality, or AR, is a layer of data, or computer augmented information, that sits on top of a real-world environment. Although AR has been gaining traction of late as Internet-ready, camera-equipped smart phones become more common, the most common example of augmented reality has been around for several years. The next time you catch a football game, take a look at that yellow stripe that marks how far the offense needs to make it for a first down. The stripe isn’t actually on the field, of course–it’s generated by a computer and layered over the video, then sent on to your television.
In the past few months, a number of interesting developments have occurred to bring AR to arenas outside of football, primarily through smart phone-type devices like the iPhone and Android, Google’s mobile operating system. Below is a video demonstration of how Layar, a Netherlands-based AR application, could help you find your next home:
Augmented reality is on its way to the iPhone as well: Last week a an augmented reality of Paris, France was released, and word got out that the current iPhone version of Yelp, an online review service, contains a hidden AR feature so those of us in the states (and with an iPhone 3GS–it needs both GPS and the compass to work) can get a taste of augmented reality. I tried it out in downtown Lawrence last week and, while not perfect, it’s a compelling look at what’s possible with this new technology.
Aside from real estate and restaurant reviews, though, what might one do with augmented reality, particularly in the education realm? Perhaps AR will provide additional learning material at future field trips, or provide a real-time look at data in a science project. How about an AR reference library to help make sense of a reading assignment? What ideas do you have?
