A Time-based Transit Map

Time + Maps are always an interesting combination.
Stefan Wehrmeyer has developed a Google Maps application called Mapnificent which provides several intereting functions that combine maps with time. The application shows the areas you can reach with public transport in a user-defined time, and tis also displays the overlapping areas that two differnt persons can both reach within a given time.
Check the video clip in which the developer expains how this application works.

Mapnificent from Stefan Wehrmeyer on Vimeo.

Popcode Apps

Popcode is an augmented reality development tool kit.
The website provides a development manual as well.

Popcode at the Cambridge Science Festival from Cambridge University on Vimeo.

Augmented Reality Applications

There are couple of interesting augmented reality applications.

1. 3D Balls Game
Greece-based telecommunication company Cosmote made an augmented reality 3D game.
This augmented reality game allows you to play with a group of people.

Cosmote 3D "Balls" Game from OgilvyOne Athens on Vimeo.

2. Augmented Reality Advertising
Canada-based augmented reality company Ad-Dispatch has introduced a new advertising method that uses augmented reality.



Source : http://www.realareal.com/

Augmented Reality ID: Image Recognition

This interesting application uses image recognition technology in order to recognise a real world object and it superimposes virtual information on top of that object. Most current augmented reality applications are using GPS and a digital compass to determine a location where you would like to superimpose virtual information. Still, there are a lot of shortcomings to using image recognition technology on mobile phones.

IBM Seer: Augmented Reality app for 2010 Wimbledon Games

IBM has upgraded their augmented reality application for the 2010 Wimbledon games. Named Seer, this application produces augmented reality views of geo-specific information, showing everything from the length of queues for Champagne or strawberries and cream to the location of the nearest cash machine. In addition, as part of a deal with the BBC, the application shows live video streams of matches from the top three courts. Seer is available for the iPhone and Android platform.

Glow: How do you feel today?

Sometimes we read articles about which countries are the top 10 happiest countries in the world. This is a very general list that reflects year-round happiness. How about mapping your mood in real time, and comparing it with other people? Using an augmented reality view, you can even find out other people's moods in various countries. A new iPhone application called Glow allows you to put your current mood and to share it with your neighbors using augmented reality views. Furthermore, you can check the mood map for your country (or even the entire world) in real time.

Here are several mood maps from Central London, Europe, and North America at 15:00 London time on 10th June 2010.

A New Android Application : Google Shopper

Google has launched a new Android application called Google Shopper which can lead you to a new way to buy goods. Google Shopper gives you information about a product that is displayed on the screen of your Android-platform mobile phone. The application can read a 2-D bar code or the front page of a book. In addition, the application recognizes your voice and searches for products that you are looking for.


Google has already launched an application called Google Goggles which uses image processing technology (namely image extraction and recognition). Google also already has an application called Google voice search.

worksnug: find free wifi hotspots using augmented reality

Here is an application that suits for people who work normally outside with their laptop.
The way of work is same as the application called nearest tube station.

A New Augmented Reality (AR) Application in Korea : Ovjet

Korean mobile network provider SK Telecom has revealed a new augmented reality application called “Ovjet” for Android-platform mobile phones.

It seems like quite similar to the concept of Google Goggles. When you point your camera at a building using your Android phone, the relevant information about the building is superimposed on the camera image on your mobile’s screen. For example, when you point your camera at a movie theatre, the application provides information about the movies being shown, and if you point at a book centre you can buy books through Ovjet.

A new mobile appl : GeoVector’s World Surfer 2

A company called GeoVector launched a new version (2.0) of its World Surfer app for the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone and Android-powered devices.
They categorized some themes such as coffee shops, resturants, historical places and so on, which they call "Channel". The application simply gives information on the direction you are heading.
As for as I understood their application, the application does not provide augmented reality display but they use digital compass and GPS.

Early Augmented Reality Applications

Augmented Reality (AR) has been a widely-known concept since last year. Actually however, AR has been around for over four decades.
It would be worth it to look back on the major AR applications of the last few decades.
This posting is about AR applications that predate the iPhone and Android platforms.
The first augmented reality application was invented by Ivan Sutherland in 1968. He called it "Ultimate display" and he believed that the ultimate display might let us understand our own natural world better. It is basically a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) AR application.

The second major augmented reality application was made by Boeing. In addition, Tom Caudell started to use the word "Augmented reality". The flight simulation is one of the fields that has used augmented reality actively so far.

ARToolKit is the third major AR application. It was originally developted by Dr. Hirokazu Kato, and its ongoing development is being supported by the Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HIT Lab) at the University of Washington, HIT Lab NZ at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and ARToolworks, Inc, Seattle.

ARTag is also another tag-based AR application like ARToolKit. The good thing about this application is that you can avoid one of the main problems that many programmers face: the array problem in matching the locations of real objects and virtual objects. ARTag came out many years after the original ARToolkit, and they improved the tag detection capabilities compared with ARToolkit.

References :
http://econsultancy.com/blog/5293-augmented-reality-ar-the-technology-is-now-market-ready
http://www.hitl.washington.edu/artoolkit/
http://www.artag.net/rev1.html

My 3 favorite mobile augmented reality applications

Since the iPhone 3GS and Android platform mobile phones have appeared, a lot of mobile augmented reality application have launched. These include LBS (Location-Based Service) mobile augmented reality applications, games and so on.

I have tried some of these applications and here are my three favorite mobile augmented reality applications so far. This is only my personal opinion, and I only chose applications which are related to GIS or LBS.


1. Layar
Layar is a platform for mobile augmented reality. The great thing about this platform you can make your own augmented reality application on your Android phone and your iPhone.
In order to do this you need to get a developerID and a developer Key from Layar. I think Layar will help to diffuse the usage of augmented reality in the mobile world.
The video clip is here


2. Acrossair's Nearest tube
Acrossair's Nearest tube is one of the first augmented reality applications on the iPhone. The reason I like this application is that the user interface is very simple and easy. I think that is the most important factor if an application is to become widely used. In addition, this application has showed how we can use augmented reality with GIS (or LBS) in the first stage of mobile augmented reality.
However, producing only directions and distance is not enough for real-life usage. I have used this application only once since I downloaded it several months ago, but it does a great job of showing us what the future can hold when we combine augmented reality with GIS and LBS.
The video clip is here


3.WIKITUDE Drive - AR Navigation
AR Navigation is the best application when it comes to combining GIS with augmented reality. It also features world-wide coverage. In order to improve this application in the future, it could be fused with other technologies. For example, as display technology has improved there have been several attempts to use a car's windshield as a display material. If we can use this transparent display to provide information to a driver, we can have a significantly safer driving environment. And in order to enhance the accuracy of figure information, image recognition and detection technology should be improved.
The video clip is here

Wikitude Drive – AR Navigation System

Mobilizy GmbH has released a new Android based augmented reality car navigation system. According to the website, this application has world wide coverage. However, your mobile device must be connected to a mobile internet network while you are using it, because this application is designed to get data in realtime from the internet.

Augmented Reality: Augmented Traffic Views

This augmented reality application shows how augmented reality can be used for ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) in contrast to the last few augmented reality applications, which give you information about restaurants and buidlings. The augmented traffic views application shows you current traffic scenes from traffic monitoring cameras. The application augments points of traffic monitoring cameras which are located near you. It basically works with GPS and a digital compass. According to the video clip it displays traffic monitoring camera scenes remarkably fast.

GraffitiGeo : iPhone Augmented Reality app for restaurant reputations.

These days, people rely on reputation websites, or something like the Michelin guide, when they choose a restaurant. Especially, when you go somewhere on vacation, reputation websites can help you a lot to choose a decent restaurant for your perfect holliday. Now you can be helped to find a good restaurant through an iPhone AR application.
A company called GraffitiGeo is going to launch a new AR application for iPhone. This application can tell you the reputation of the restaurant your iPhone is displaying.

Acrossair browser - AR for your local restaurants, estate agents etc.

Acrossair, the UK Augmented Reality application company which launched the nearest tube station augmented reality application has released a new AR application.

This application shows your local restaurants, properties, theatres and so on in AR view. In addition, you can find the places that you choose from this application through Google maps. This application works only on iPhone.

Augmented reality meets scavenger hunt with GeoBeagle, Wikitude

This is another Android based Augmented Reality application which is made by U.K.-based developer Nicholas Tollervey. It is Augmented Reality version of treasure hunting game. I found this this post from the Venturebeat website.
The more detail information about this application here.

Geocaching, an outdoor game where players use GPS on mobile devices to leave or track down hidden packages, may be about to get a bit easier.

Instead of relying on GPS coordinates and written clues to find packages, players can see visual markers on an Android phone’s viewfinder thanks to an augmented reality project by U.K.-based developer Nicholas Tollervey. It’s one of augmented reality’s newest uses after two companies released application programming interfaces last month to encourage experimentation. Augmented reality is a young field that lets you overlay information or graphics in a viewfinder. It was considered more of an academic pursuit until smartphones opened the door to potential everyday use.

Tollervey took data from GeoBeagle, a free, open-source application for Google’s Android platform and marked it up in the Wikitude browser. Wikitude is an augmented reality browser from Austrian company Mobilizy. When it launched last year, it was a travel guide that let you hold up your Android phone’s viewfinder and see Wikipedia articles tagged to places around you. (See examples here.)

Since then, the company and its Dutch rival, SPRXMobile, have opened up APIs and are competing to lure independent developers to build apps. So the space could be set to balloon with lots of interesting commercial applications. Think restaurant recommendations, real estate listings, or search queries that could be launched directly from your phone’s viewfinder.

Augmented Reality GPS Tour Video

This video was recorded around the middle of 2007. It is a HMD (Head Mounted Display) based Augmented Reality application. The one big benefit of HMD AR is total immersion as contrasted with Monitor-Based AR.

Nearest Tube iPhone App Adds Digital Directions to Your Surroundings [IPhone Apps]

iPhone 3GS only: The Nearest Tube iPhone app uses the iPhone 3GS's newly-adequate camera to show the direction of the nearest tube station by adding directional arrows to a real-time "video" you take of your surroundings. Seriously, check this out.

AcrossAir, the makers of the app, claim it as one of the first "augmented reality" apps for the iPhone, meaning it adds digital signs to a real-time video. It only supports the London Underground for now, and is currently being approved by Apple, but we could definitely see this coming in handy for most any major city. Can we humbly request a version for Chicago, city of the miles-apart subway stations? We'll let you know when it's eventually approved and released into the App Store. (From Gizmodo.com)

Augmented reality android app: Wikitude

This is the one of the first augmented reality applcation for Android. It shows the POI(Point Of Interest) through your mobile device screen.
GPS, Digital Compass and Accelerometer were used to catch up your location and visual angle, and Image Recognition, Data Connection were used as well.