A reality check for augmented reality

September 24th, 2009

After posting about mobile augmented reality here and here I came across an article in New Scientist

I disagree, with the wobbly start headline, but I liked the reality check. Something that was reinforced recently by AR specialist Robert Rice, he posted,

We have some time to build all the neat stuff and eventually get to the contact lens displays (which are not coming soon, press to the contrary notwithstanding). We need to keep people focused on what is coming, how it will be useful, and how we will get there. This will all directly relate to early user adoption, funding, R&D, etc.

the risk of over hyping, unrealistic expectations, marketing saturation, and everything else along those lines is still a big risk factor. Already I’m seeing people on twitter complaining about seeing too much about augmented reality. I’ve certainly been critical of a number of things that I thought were over hyped, or make claims that are easily misunderstood and represented (I’m looking at you, contact lens display guys!).

And New Scientist, concurred

But while some who back the technology think its time has now come, after more than a decade in development, others warn that undercooked applications or “apps” are set to disappoint users, potentially damaging the market.

The momentum building behind AR has been fuelled by the growing sophistication of cellphones. With the right software, devices like the iPhone can now overlay reviews of local services or navigation information onto scenes from the phone’s camera.

I looking at Yelps recent Monocle App, New Scientist wrote,

Amid all the hype, however, there is a big problem: the sensors that the apps depend on are not always up to the job. When New Scientist tested an iPhone in downtown San Francisco, the error reported by the GPS sensor was as great as 70 metres, and the compass leapt through 180 degrees as the phone moved past a metal sculpture. Indeed, the Yelp app often displayed links to businesses directly behind the one the camera was pointing at.

“These sensors are astonishingly bad at what people are trying to do with them,” says Blair MacIntyre, who studies AR at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Yelp says the app’s AR features are a “very early iteration” that the company will improve as it gets feedback.

To achieve the sub-metre positioning accuracy that really good AR demands, mobile devices will have to analyse scenes, not just record images, says the article.

Building 3D maps, from multiple data sources can also deliver greater accuracy,

Microsoft’s Photosynth software can create composite 3D images from a bunch of 2D images, while huge public image libraries such as Flickr could provide the raw data. However, such complex mapping schemes inevitably raise data-storage and privacy concerns

The idea that Flickr becomes an extraordinary database mine of visual information gets the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. Where is the value (aka $$$) in these massive aggregated pools of data and information, people ask? Well it just maybe we are only just beginning to learn how to walk economically in the networked economy. Flickr may become extraordinary valuable because of its vast and raw depository of data. Again we get into the data flow wars, who owns, and who has access to that data. How multiple data streams are configured, and mashed and refined will be a new source of revenue for many. Perhaps big media needs to think about that?

The future of pedestrian navigation?