Augmented reality simple defination is when we add information to our true real environment i.e. augment reality with information with the help of technology like smart phones or smart displays it becomes augmented reality.
Augmented reality is considered an extension of virtual reality. Virtual reality (VR) is a virtual space in which players immerse themselves into that space and exceed the bounds of physical reality. In virtual reality, time, physical laws and material properties may no longer be thought of as true, in contrast to the real-world environment.
How Virtual Reality is different from Augmented Reality?
AR is about augmenting the real world environment with virtual information by improving people’s senses and skills. AR mixes virtual characters with the actual world. He identified three common characteristics of AR scenes: combination of the real and virtual, interactive in real-time, and having the scenes registered in 3D.
Cite an example of AR application in Android iPhone.
Google’s project glass is said to have the Augmented Reality. By just using the glasses, you can see your Face book status, Twitter updates, maps, and a lot more running in the background of your physical environment.
What are the hard ware components used in this Augmented Reality?
The main components are: processor, display, sensors, and other input devices.
What is its goal?
The purpose of AR is to add meaning or information to a real object. Unlike virtual reality it does not create a simulation of reality. But it uses a real object as a base and adds contextual data to deepen a person's understanding of that object. For example by superimposing imaging data from an MRI onto a patient's body, augmented reality helps the surgeon to pinpoint a tumour that is to be removed. Therefore we can say that AR enhances the object's meaning.
Who can use it?
AR has been in use in a number of fields apart from just gaming or any other means of entertainment. For example it's in use for medical imaging, museum imaging and aviation imaging.
How does it work?
AR uses a number of technologies. One of them is Pinch Glove; many of them use headgear. Augmented reality is not merely a companion text or multimedia file but a technology designed to "see" a real object or place and provide the user with appropriate information at the right time. Augmented reality is designed to blur the line between the reality the user is experiencing and the content provided by technology.
Why is it significant?
AR uses a technology that brings more powerful meaning to the real object. Students in an archaeology class might use an augmented reality system to capture their thoughts or impressions when working with artefacts. That content can then be made available to others during subsequent lab sessions, allowing them to have a deeper understanding of the subject matter and a richer learning experience. Augmented reality might also make higher education and specialized content more accessible to the general public, transporting lessons from the campus to the community.
Cite some interesting Android AR Apps:
The AR Apps are: Wikitude World Browser, Layar Reality Browser, Wikitude Drive, Weather Reality, Speedview etc.
What is the basic idea for AR implementation?
The typical AR implementations have two parts: 'live' data that we are augmenting and 'meta' data that is used for augmentation. For a real-world overlay example, the 'live' data we're augmenting will usually be a combination of information in the viewfinder of the rear-facing camera, the current location, and the direction the device is facing. This information is then cross-referenced with a list of 'meta' data. For instance, if we want to see the locations of gas stations in the view finder, the AR 'service' must have augmentation data for each gas station, including its latitude and a longitude. Using this information, and the direction in which the device/camera is pointing, we can approximate the location of each gas station as an overlay on the view finder window and display a little fuel icon on or above its location.
How AR Will Be Used by Mobile Customers?
"Smart" mobile devices will be more widely adopted by customers along all segments, and new technologies will emerge among Android and Apple smartphones and tablets that will allow individuals to use them as augmented reality devices. We are already beginning to see this development, as digital compasses and accelerometers spread through the market. As smartphones improve their functionality, AR inches closer and closer to widespread adoption too.
How AR is beneficial for your business?
Augmented reality apps are growing rapidly in popularity across all kinds of industries and are perfect for the consumer, to make life easier, and businesses, who can harness the technology to provide a wealth of information about their product or service. AR apps are the next step up from QR codes, which give basic information and allow you to access mobile websites by scanning them. AR apps are expected to generate 1.4bn downloads by 2015, and the market for AR is forecasted to be worth as much as $350m by 2014 in the US alone. So if you're thinking of developing an app for your business, perhaps it's intelligent to practice forward-thinking and get your company an AR app – they are so flexible and can be used for such a variety of products and services, which it's certainly worth thinking about as part of your marketing plan.
When AR came into existence?
The History of AR is not a new one; the concept first starts in the hand of Ivan Sutherland in the year 1968, who created first virtual reality system, by one optical see-through head-mounted display. Later this process underwent many experiments, researches, innovations and creations. Thus in 1990 the term 'Augmented Reality' was first coined. Then in 2008 Wikitude AR Travel Guide launches AR in GI Android Phones.
How can you define AR for a non-tech person?
Augmented reality is the process of adding computer graphics elements to images of real scenes to provide all kinds of information to the user. Since we are able to track the moment-by-moment mapping between the camera view and stored views, we can add any location-related data to the user's screen and make it look like it is part of the world. It is possible to imagine a virtual tour guide who points out the details of the city as we walk around. This is just one of many applications
.
Can you cite examples from some famous movies?
In Minority Report, Tom Cruise stands in front of a supercomputer using AR technology. In the movie Robocop, Robocop uses Augmented Reality tech via his head-mounted display to get into the details of a particular person or status quo.
How can AR help an industrial designer?
AR can help designer experience the final product before is complete or can help with the testing part of it. Volkswagen is already using AR for comparing calculated and actual crash test imagery. But AR can also be used to visualize and modify a car body curvature or the engine layout.
What is image registration in AR?
A key measure of AR systems is how realistically they integrate augmentations with the real world. The software must derive real world coordinates, independent from the camera from Camera images. And this process is known as image registration.
What does Azuma say about AR?
AR is about augmenting the real world environment with virtual information by improving people's senses and skills. AR mixes virtual characters with the actual world. He identified three common characteristics of AR scenes: combination of the real and virtual, interactive in real-time, and having the scenes registered in 3D.
How can we track AR in real life?
While using a digital camera or an optical sensor or a GPS or gyroscopes we can easily track AR.
What is the Hardware Technology that AR uses?
It basically uses CPU, Display (shader lamps, mobile projectors, smart projectors etc), sensors and input devices.
What is Pinch Glove?
It is a technique in AR that signals its position and orientation from camera images. The pinch glove is a wand with a button.
How can AR entertain us?
Apart from just video games AR sports broadcasting. For example: Swimming pools, football fields, race tracks and other sports environments are easily prepared, through video augmentation.
What if I want to use existing AR services to my Android mobiles?
Instead of fully implementing AR services in your mobiles you can use a lighter software application called Layer. It's a mobile browser that allows user to find out various items based on AR technology. The Layar service allows anyone to add data that can be displayed for users and handles the details of the AR. As a bonus, it's a cross platform, that makes your available to both Android and iPhones.
What are the components that an AR uses in Android Phones?
It uses Camera data, Location data and Sensor data. The camera data is available if we use android.hardware.Camera package. The location data is available in android.location package and the sensor data is available in android.hardware.SensorManager package.
Where does AR receive its data from in Androids?
In general, you'll either be getting this data from your own database, which might be stored locally or from a database online somewhere through a web or cloud service. If you've preloaded augmentation data on the device, you'd like to use a SQLite database for quick and easy lookups; you'll find the SQLite APIs in the android.database.sqlite package. For web-based data, if you want to connect up to a web service you can use the normal methods: HTTP and (usually) XML parsing. For this, you need to simply use java.net.URL class with one of the XML parsing classes, such as the XmlPullParser class, to parse the result.
What are the advantages of AR?
As a result of creating Augmented Reality a new sphere has formed known as 'The Virtual Sphere'. This has produced a new platform for media to work with including in the Public Relations field. New campaigns are beginning to include Augmented Reality as part of their communication strategy. It could be argued that interactivity of this nature works well in PR campaigns and Augmented Reality is the next generation of interactivity with your consumers. Interactivity can create a false sense of power which consumers strive for and this makes it worthwhile to incorporate it in PR strategies. Once mixed up with your social media applications, AR can become a personal experience with offers/coupons from shops you like and places you enjoy going around – hence it's a marketers' dream. This could prove to be highly profitable for a PRO when trying to reach his/her target market as the displays are only perceived by a single user, raising the possibility of producing rich, personal experiences for all occupants of a shared space. Today, people are searching, buying, rating, interacting, and using social-media a pressure-free environment.
What are AR's disadvantages?
One of the most serious disadvantages being privacy issue: in Japan, where people are basically anonymous and they do not maintain an extended social life though they have profiles in many social medial sites. Here AR could be a problem.
How has Google glass created magic through social networking?
The Google AR glasses offers you a compelling experience in purchasing things, of course, branded, via visiting many sites on line: just like a real life shopping where you hang around with friends, consider so many things while shopping, or getting a discount or bonus offer on purchased things etc. This combination of location based services, augmented reality and social networking transforms every urban, suburban or rural life into an advanced tech experience. Companies will concentrate on more and more on social shopping strategy.
What is ARIS?
ARIS is Augmented Reality and Interactive Storytelling, in short. ARIS lets designers link text, images, video, or audio to a physical location, making the real world into a map of virtual characters and objects that people can navigate with iPhones, iPads, or iPod Touches.
How does AR help a marketer?
With augmented reality, marketers can take both the physical world and combine it with the digital world, offering users and brands the ability to connect even further with a product before, during and after making a purchase. But augmented reality doesn't exist just in the online and television/film world. As smartphones continue to rule our daily lives offering these experiences in a mobile setting becomes increasingly important. And in the future, it will likely be the main way to reach consumers via augmented reality.
Why to use AR in advertising media?
There are few reasons that enable a marketer using AR as a part of their strategy. Such as, using AR in an ad campaign always put the company ahead of all other innovations. Next it is cheaper than other means. Thirdly, using an AR in ad campaign will bring an emotional connection amongst consumers which will lead to its higher rate in the market. Along with other captivating features like geo-tagging etc. make AR never-putdown-able for ad campaigns.
What is Goldrun?
GoldRun is a photo driven ad-platform using AR transforms traditional digital media images into immersive and immediately shareable brand-consumer involvements: GPS-Linked Virtual Photobooths. Users can share their branded UGC photos and messages on various social networks to earn rewards; including discounts & vouchers, wining prizes, access to exclusive media and also have ability to advance order products.
Can you name some of the top iPad apps based on AR?
Some of the top most iPad apps are: Snap shop Showroom iPad app, Sun seeker iPad app, Theodolite iPad app, Star Chart iPad app, and Junaio iPad app.
What is Aurasma?
Aurasma, a new AR tool in the market can seamlessly animate the world as seen through a smartphone. Going beyond previous augmented reality, the "auras" can do everything from making a painting talk to overlaying live news onto a printed newspaper.
What is Tagwhat?
It is a part augmented reality-app and part social networking service, it lets people check and view locations along with additional random information like the place's history, the famous people who are attached to it, anecdotes about the neighboring establishments, or any other information that can either be trivial, or extremely useful. Unlike other augmented reality apps, TagWhat relies on extensive user interaction. The fun, friendly user interface allows you to tag pictures, locations of your choice, as well as include your own stories and talks about a place, or even include multimedia like a video of a famous event that happened in a location, or a famous song that was written long ago.
