Augmented Reality in our world today..

Hello world, Thanks for joining me in our discussion about augmented reality and Gestural Interface.

Just to reiterate, we have defined Augmented Reality (AR) as a type of virtual reality that aims to duplicate the world's environment in a computer. If you’d remember we also defined Gestural Interfaces as the goal of interpreting human gestures with mathematical algorithms into a computer. In combination, these things enable humans to interface with the machines and interact naturally without any uses a remote or any kind of mechanical devices.

Today, I will be showing some examples or experiences of how Augmented Reality and Gestural Interface have been integrated into our lives; especially some applications, and also how you can create your very own augmented reality!

According to an article written by Aden Hepburn, he stated ten different augmented reality examples naming the Layar browser as the number one medium of experiencing AR in our world. This Browser enables you to select multiple layers of content to automatically find detailed content based of your location. To further understand the Layar browser, I went to the Layar website to dig further. This browser enables the enhancement of real world objects using digital information with the goal to interpret interactive and immersive features like 3D objects and animation. So if you were to be walking around and you see a poster or advertisement with AR within, you could just pop out your phone and with this browser you’d be able to see the goodies that’s behind the poster.

Another example is called Nearest Tube. This Application based in the busy streets of London helps them to navigate the confusing local underground and the various stations. Instead of trying to use maps that don’t show you your exact position or your relative closeness to your next point of transport. The Nearest Tube shows all of the 13 lines of the London Underground stations, their locations and also how many miles or Kilometers from their current point of location. If you’d like to see more or a demo, click here. Another Application like Nearest Tube is called the New York Nearest Subway. This application also displays the New York Subway lines and all of its 33 lines that run underground as well.

A good example that I found relative to business people was the AR Business Cards. These cards enable you to present yourself in a more personal way than a regular business card, which most people don’t tend to keep and even forget about them after a day or so.  To create one, with the link below, you’d have to create your presentation file, which would include all the information you’d like to get across, using a frontend tool you’d have to generate a QR-code which will basically aid in the flash application, thus helping to export the presentation as a XML file. Personally, I am interested in creating one because I believe I would be able to show my personality in a favorable way and also considering the fact that most people don’t know about or use AR business Cards, this would be a way to keep the interest of the person you handed your card. If you’d like to get one, check out the link here.

Not leaving out Gestural Interfaces, in an article called Gestural interfaces make touch screens look so ‘last year’ written by Jeff Salton, he explains that the gestural interface used in the famous movie Minority Report was based on work by MIT Media Lab’s Hiroshi Ishii. The lab has been trying to commercialize the gestural interface systems. The article explains that touch screens are using capacitive sensing, which require a finger to touch the screen, thereby sending an electrical connection between the sensors, which determines the location of the touch. On the other hand, Salton explains that Gestural interfaces have embedded optical sensors to track the movement of the fingers without having to come into contact with the display. Pretty cool huh?

Now lets get into the exciting aspect of todays topic, creating your own augmented reality.

Today, there are a lot of different ways for anyone to create an AR environment without having to worry about learning how to code.

The first one is Google Sketchup, which a free download that aids in helping you create a picture in 3D and also lets you share the model. After the model has been created you’d need an AR Media Plugin, which can be found here. Also, a webcam would be needed to show the AR over the platform of your choosing. 

Another source or medium of creating your own AR is through a company called Hoppala. For any non-technical person, this is the best option to take because their graphical web interface helps to build geo referenced content by simply clicking, there is no software installation required and no coding needed. After its created, it could be published anywhere. To find out more on this, check it out here!

In conclusion, searching for another way to make an AR, I discovered Onvert. This is a company that has managed to combine the use of QR codes and Augmented Reality helping their users to get information on a website without typing and by using Augmented Reality to allow users to interact with the worldview from their mobile devices.  Their codes are readable by any QR code application showing the compressed artwork and also displaying your Augmented Reality developments on top of your target image. Be sure to visit their website.

Thanks for visiting today, I hope I was able to quench your thirst for Augmented Reality and Gestural Interfaces... Till next time, be safe out there!