Will “Augmented Reality” Become an LBS Reality?

An example of Augmented Reality, with information digitally overlaying a real-world view

If you’ve been keeping an eye on technology and LBS publications recently, you may have noticed that something called “Augmented Reality” (AR) seems to be the latest craze. Although I can’t guarantee the technology will reach iconic status like the slap bracelet and hypercolor t-shirt crazes of my childhood, I wanted to take a little time to discuss the technology and how it’s currently being used for a variety of mobile functions.

The basic premise behind AR is the overlay of digital or computerized images on a real-world view, whether it be direct or indirect. The digital imagery is used to supplement or enhance the real-world view in some way, providing interactive content or relevant information. One of the most common and identifiable uses of this is in the sports world, with AR being used to create the yellow first down line that is overlayed digitally on the field during broadcasts of college and NFL Football. That in itself would be enough for me to become a fan of AR, but that’s only the beginning.

With the ever expanding capabilities of today’s mobile devices, a number of companies have begun to use AR to overlay digital information onto smartphone screens. Using a combination of the phone’s camera view, GPS capabilities and internal compass, it’s possible to use AR to display relevant information on top of what your viewing right out of your phone’s camera lens. Don’t believe me? Here’s a post from The Boy Genius Report showing an AR app that will locate traffic cameras in the direction you’re viewing and enable you to instantly access the view from the lens of any camera you choose. As you can see, the indicators of the traffic camera locations are overlayed digitally on top of the actual view you see through the camera, and this information changes as you face different directions.

GPS Business News recently posted an in-depth article on the growing trend of AR within the LBS industry. The article identifies a number of companies who are using AR to do everything from displaying small “wiki” information bubbles on top of your camera’s view to give you insight into what you may be looking at, to pointing your phone’s camera in a specific direction and receiving an overlay of where the closest train station is. It appears industry experts aren’t seeing this as just another ”fad” technology either, as the article points out that research firm Gartner has identified AR as one of the top ten disruptive technologies for 2008-2012.

I don’t know about you, but this is the type of advancement that gets me excited to live in this technology fueled world of ours and to work in an industry with as much promise as LBS. Just think of the possibilities . . .