Augmented Reality: A New Visualisation Method for GIS

I gave a presentation at CASA at UCL.
As ubiquitous computing and pervasive computing have become more and more implemented in our lives, we have become surrounded by more intelligent objects, and this has made our environment more complex. There are a lot of limitations to using current geovisualization techniques in trying to visualise such a complex real world. Augmented reality can be a promising technology to overcome this limitation, because augmented reality can provide dynamic and very realistic 3D virtual views.

This presentation was about my research background, introducing augmented reality, and some experimental studies about using tag-based augmented reality such as ARTag, as well as mobile augmented reality such as Layar.

Augmented Reality: A New Geovisualisation Method for GIS

View more presentations from Sung Hyun Jang.

GIS and Augmented Reality in 2015

The last 12 months has seen a turning point in terms of bringing geographically aware augmented reality to mobile devices. Significant developments in locational technology such as the inclusion of a built-in digital compass, GPS (Global Positioning System) and accelerometers into mobile phones have allowed not only location but also heading, and pitch to be detected and therefore incorporated into data display systems. These built-in technologies have brought augmented reality to the hands of the masses, and the phones themselves have sparked a market driven boom in fusing augmented reality with location-based services (LBS). Currently applications are in their infancy and mainly focused on specific topics such as ‘show me where the closest x is’. This however represents the tip of the iceberg with the addition of a GIS into the mix there is notable potential for the industry.

This paper is a part of works from the Association of Geographic Information (AGI) Foresight Study in 2009.
The authors are Andrew Hudson-Smith and Sung Hyun Jang at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at UCL.

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

Augmented/Mediated Reality Concpets

This video shows how Augmented Reality changs human life style. Fusion of GIS, LBS, and Computer Vision(Augmented Reality) technologies could make our life totally different from now.