What’s cooler and a more potential game changer for
medicine, design, entertainment, service and more than AR (augmented
reality)– blending digital information atop physical reality? Mobile
augmented reality!
An emerging array of platforms, tools and
apps use GPS, orientation sensors, 3D graphics, live video, Web services, open
APIs and engaging user interfaces into a new class of AR systems for mobile
devices. Google is gung ho, Apple is lagging (for now). Here’s who and what to watch.
1.
Mobilizy
This
Austrian AR platform company is best known as creator of Wikitude,which it calls the “first practical augmented reality (AR) mobile
application.” Download Wikitude through
G1, G2 and myTouch phones in the Android Market
Place. An iPhone version is
reportedly in the works. A related community, WIKITUDE.me, lets users and others join in
development. Mobilizy shipped
a developer API and world browser updates on July 15.
A
similar product for Android phones, called Wikitude.me, provides information on
800,000 points of interest around the world, according to Philipp
Breuss-Schneeweis, founder of Mobilizy, the Austrian company that developed
Wikitude.me. Much of this content comes from Wikipedia, he said.
Worth
checking out: A Mobilizy application
for T-Mobile G1 developed by IBM that displayed real-time information,
transportation and dining options for fans at Wimbledon this year.
2.
Layar
Also claiming “the
world’s first mobile augmented reality browser” is this Dutch firm offering
services in the Netherlands for Android phones. Look for U.S. rollout later
this year. Meanwhile, check out this demo video
and how it works (below):
3. TwitARound (Application)
Tech
gourmands will be downright giddy with this mashup of AR, Twitter and the
iPhone 3GS. See live tweets around your
location as well as their origin and distance. Why is a another question…
Developed in Webkit (UIWebView/Safari Mobile). Supposedely available soon as an iPhone download app.
4. Enkin for Android
Early stage handheld navigation project worth
watching. Check out demo, blog, documentation and more here.
Can I see the two ultra-nerd founders in their own Web hit serial? I
think I can…
5. Apple
Thought we forgot,
didn’t you? The mobile AR world is holding its breath for the iPhone OS 3.1 update,
set for September, which will reportedly include
APIs for developers to access a video stream directly from the camera.
Developers currently cannot publish mobile AR apps to the App Store because the
iPhone SDK lacks public APIs for manipulating live video. A
petition from developers hopes to nudge Apple. Unfortunately, users of
older iPhones lacking the updated camera hardware and onboard compass will be
stuck with old-fashioned unaugmented reality. Here’s a taste of the possibilities – a subway locator from
developer Acrossair.
