Table of Contents

CMT3331 New Media - Augmented Reality Bridging the Gap between what is Virtual
and what is Real...........................................................................................................2
1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................................... 2
2. Literature Analysis......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Wikitude.............................................................................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Nearest Tube...................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.3 Metaio 3D Books............................................................................................................................................... 4
3. Criticism............................................................................................................................................................... 5
4. Summary............................................................................................................................................................ 6
References:................................................................................................................................................................. 7

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Augmented Reality – Bridging the Gap between what is Virtual and what is Real

CMT3331 New Media - Augmented Reality

Bridging the Gap between what is Virtual and what is Real

1. Introduction

Since the invention of the Internet people are on the struggle to push further the boundaries of
“knowing”. Now a days the Internet plays an important if not an essential part of our lives. The Internet
today offers a wide range of possibilities of which we all make use in our every day life. For instance we
have online banking, online shopping, social networking, chatting and we can even organize a holiday
abroad without ever setting step inside a travel agency.

As we all know the Internet is a sort of virtual world reflecting the real one, with the main difference that
in the virtual one everything is only at a touch of a button away.
However have you ever wondered what would happen to the real world if, both the virtual and real world
are mixed together to form a new experience by enhancing all five human senses?

The answer to all this is Augmented Reality (AR). AR is a new concept that has been around us for quite
some time. This concept makes use of the real world however it enhances the user experience by
providing additional information that is not available in the real world. For instance lets take an example;
you are in front of a restaurant, you take out your mobile phone and with the help of an application and
camera you will instantly know about other people reviews, restaurant menu, prices and so on without
even making a step inside the restaurant or browsing the web. Many people have seen this technology in
movies such as “Minority Report” were the main actor is able to move and transfer files from one medium
to another by simply using his hands on a transparent screen. Even if this technology is a bit too far
fetched, it is catching up quite quickly [1]. Today we can already find various applications that run on a
mobile device that offer a certain level of AR.

Two professors, namely Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino, gave one common definition for Augmented
Reality.

Figure 1 - Milgram's Mixed Reality Diagram [1]

With reference to the figure 1, Milgram and Kishino “describe a continuum that spans from the real
environment to a pure virtual environment. In between there are Augmented Reality (closer to the real
environment) and Augmented Virtuality (is closer to the virtual environment)”[2]

In poor words AR is the real world enhanced with the help of the virtual world. On the other hand
Augmented Virtuality is the Virtual World, which mimics instances of the real world to create a sort of
illusion.
 2. Literature Analysis

The public has first experienced this technology in the 1990’s when the introduction of head-up displays
has emerged. Head-up displays were the first introduced in cars were the driver could see what speed and
revs the engine was doing without taking his eyes of the road. This worked by simply reflecting an image
from an LCD to the car’s windscreen [1]. From there on clocks and other sort of gadgetry started using this
technology for displaying time on walls, weather reports and so on.

AR has come a long way from the technology of head-up displays now-a-days this technology as grown to
the extent that the user is able to interact with it instantly and receives feedback from it.
Various projects are currently on the go from dedicated hardware and mobile phone software to military
and medical software.

2.1 Wikitude

One of the most successful projects of the moment is called “Wikitude”. Wikitude is a mobile device
application that originally worked in conjunction with the so famous and vastly used collaborative
encyclopedia Wikipedia. The application is easily installed on a mobile device and uses its digital compass,
GPS, camera and Internet connectivity. Once the user turns on the application, he can literally point the
phone’s camera towards a particular point of interest and depending on the availability of information the
user will be displayed with summarized information of what he is seeing in front of his eyes (Figure 2). The
user can then tap on the information to have more detail of it or simply move the phone to the next
point. [5]
Wikitude now makes use of the so called “Overlays”. The Overlays allow users to be contributors to the
content that Wikitude offers. Users can now contribute by adding their own points of interest to the
application and not only. Overlays open a new boundary for commercial outlets. Commercial outlets can
now create specific overlays which users can download and install on their devices so they can know
where the nearest “Starbucks” is or “Mc Donalds” and so on. Moreover this powerful application is
available for a various platforms namely: iPhone OS, Symbian and Android.

Figure 2 - Wikitude - [4]

2.2 Nearest Tube

A similar application to Wikitude is “Nearest Tube” developed by acrossair. This application is like a small
fragment of Wikitude as it can only display nearest location of Tube station in London. Same as for
Wikitude, with Nearest Tube the user will simply point his camera in a particular direction to get
information on where the nearest tube stations are located in London. If pointed to the ground the
application will show coloured arrows pointing to the direction of where the user should walk and
distance to get to the station. When pointed towards the street the user instantly sees the nearest tube
station together with what tube lines are available in the station. By simply pointing the phone upwards
he/she can scroll through different tube stations and see information about them [3].

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Augmented Reality – Bridging the Gap between what is Virtual and what is Real

Figure 3 - accrossair - "Nearest Tube" [3]

In contrast to Wikitude this application does only work with iPhone 3Gs. However other applications are
available from the same company for different metro/tube stations across the world.

2.3 Metaio 3D Books

Another different application of AR is found in books and magazines. A German based company “Metaio”
has created a new way of experiencing concepts of book reading and 3D rendering. Imagine holding a
book in your hands that talks about the space and the universe. By simply downloading software to your
PC and using a webcam, you will experience 3D images, animations or even narrated videos displayed on
the computer screen overlaid over text or even the image itself. This technology will enable the user to be
immersed into the book and experience its content like never before.
The trick behind all this is a pre-programmed image recognition technique, which will recognize the book
to create an instant combo image in real-time [6] (Figure 4).

Figure 4 – Metaio – 3D earth [6]

This technology does also work with magazines. Imagine the potential of being able to display your
products in a 3D manner by simply allowing the consumer to put the magazine in front of a webcam
(Figure 5). The consumer can then move around the 3D object and zoom in it by simply pushing the
magazine towards the camera or turning it to view every detail of it. To further enhance such technology
the user can make use of special goggles, which attached to a computer will change the existing image to
a 3D one. Thus allowing the user to look straight at the magazine instead of looking at the monitor.

Figure 5 – Metaio Magazine [6]

3. Criticism

In order for this technology to develop further and reach its potential and become an intelligent
technology for every day use, AR needs to address the gaps of its limited functionality.
“Only in the early stages of its evolution, augmented reality has the opportunity to refine and expand its
range of interaction patterns without disrupting familiar models or incurring substantial costs”[1]. Thus
meaning that this technology needs to set firm standards now so that people would not have to move
constantly from using one type of technology to another. Also this should be accessible to various levels
of the social class.

Sure this a fresh emerging concept of technology and people are still amazed by its “Wow” factor.
Technologies such as the ones mentioned above are surely wonderful and very helpful to use. However
now-a-days people do not get amazed so fast and tend to get used to new concepts very quickly. This can
be simply seen with the boom of social networking and mobile phones. When these technologies came
out everyone thought that they just don’t need them but now they almost indispensable for the majority
of the population. This will be a new threat for people to form a sort of “Crackberry” phenomenon, an
addiction in which people are total dependable on this technology to; socialize, get around town and
make simple decisions.

Moreover there is the risk that this technology will kill a child’s imagination. Since this technology is
already capable of transforming books into a video with narration. This will defeat the concept of a book
were a child that is reading about a tree can imagine this tree in various ways, forms and colours.
Whereas by using AR the child will simply be forced to see the tree as the picture in front of his/her eyes.

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Privacy is another concern, to an extreme were we can just point our mobile device towards a complete
stranger and by gathering information from various social networking websites we can instantly know
what his name is, what his age is, what he did yesterday and so on [7]. Yes ok, this is already a well-known
issue because you have already exposed yourself to the Web, but AR will boost this problem to further
lengths because it can search by simply matching the person face to a photo and not just a name.

Further more this technology needs to move away from the use of a mobile phone. Users might get bored
of using such a small display to overlay the information. Thus new wearable devices such as “Sixthsense”,
AR capable contact lenses and glasses will be needed to create a more convenient and instantly accessible
experience [7].

4. Summary

This technology is still at its first steps and therefore we cannot expect that it will do everything at a blink
of an eye or answering every single need that we request from it. Despite many missing interacting
features the future for this technology is simply immense and the technologies available today are just a
glimpse of what it would do in the near future. From what we can see this technology might be a social
breakthrough up to a technology that can be used for education or even saving lives.
References:

[1] – Interaction Design for Augmented Reality - http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/08/inside-out-

interaction-design-for-augmented-reality.php - published 17th August 2009 – viewed 29th January 2010

[2] – Augmented Reality - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality - last review 28th January 2010 – viewed
29th January 2010

[3] – Acrossair -
http://www.acrossair.com/acrossair_app_augmented_reality_nearesttube_london_for_iPhone_3GS.htm - viewed
31st January 2010

[4] – Android Envy – Wikitude augmented reality showcases Google’s killer edge -
http://siddey.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/android-envy-wikitude-augmented-reality-showcases-googles-killer-edge/
- published 5th May 2009 – viewed 30th January 2010

[5] – Augmented Reality & The Web: Present and Future Scenarios -
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/augmented_reality_the_web_present_and_future_scena.php - published
15th May 2009 – viewed 30th January 2010

[6] – Make Books ‘Pop’ With New Augmented Reality Tech - http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/10/im-in-yur-
physi/ - 28th October 2008 – viewed 31st January 2010

[7] – How Augmented Reality Works - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality4.htm - viewed 31st

January 2010

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