Picture this: You go into a library and point your smartphone in the general direction of the shelves. Through “augmented reality” technology, labels appear on your screen, and you touch the label for “Cookbooks.” Then as you begin to walk in that direction an active GPS map appears on your screen directing you not only to the cookbooks, but suggesting you also go to the location of cooking videos. This scenario is not as far-fetched as you might think; many of the required elements are already being used by businesses.
- mTrip iPhone app uses augmented reality (Associated Press/Colleen Long, 9/3/2010) “It works like this: You turn on the application, hit the augmented reality button and then look through your phone’s camera at the Brooklyn Bridge or the Empire State Building. Icons pop up that show you other points of interest, or restaurants within a half mile of your location, whether the restaurant is open, and what reviewers are saying about it.”
- Augmented reality’s gradual progression (Information Age, 8/18/2010) “They can therefore be used to locate buildings or cars with GPS systems, but not small objects and not to an accuracy of less than a metre. In time this will change, however, Lens-FitzGerald says. ‘Indoor positioning is one of the holy grails for augmented reality, and lots of people are working on it.'”
- Location-Based Services Move into the Supermarket (ReadWriteWeb, 8/25/2010) “Determining a shopper’s location inside a store, of course, is not an easy task, as GPS signals don’t work inside a building. Instead, Point Inside triangulates a shopper’s location in the store with the help of WiFi access points inside the building. […] Meijer now has 26 hotspots inside every store that is participating in this pilot, which allows the company to locate a shopper with a good enough accuracy to be useful.”
- HP Case Study (WiFi-based digital shopping solution for Steen & Strøm) “From the customer’s perspective, the system provides valuable assistance in navigating around a very large shopping area. It also represents a short-cut to finding out about the best deals. Extensive testing has revealed a high level of enthusiasm among potential end-users — most notably an elderly woman who was filmed for television as she used the system to track down the luggage she wanted.”
And another thing about augmented reality…
Can Augmented Reality Help Save the Print Publishing Industry? (ReadWriteWeb)
