Augmented Reality ist ein Thema das gerade groß im Kommen ist. Viel wird darüber geschrieben, meist mit überschwänglicher Euphorie und Technikbegeisterung. Noch ist nicht klar ob Augmented Reality tatsächlich unser aller Leben verändern wird oder doch eher ein überbewertetes Spielzeug für Technophiele bleibt. Hier habe ich ein paar Videos zusammengetragen, die den Stand der Entwicklung illustrieren. Ganz interessant auch die Umfrage von ReadWriteWeb. Sowie der Artikel von Brady Forrest auf O’Reilly Radar “Map/Territory: Augmented Reality Without the Phone”

Is Augmented Reality Garbage or Golden?

We’ve been writing a lot here about Augmented Reality (AR), technology that displays layers of data on top of our view of physical reality through mobile phone cameras, projected images and webcams. It seems like a red-hot field and something we should cover all the more. Some people think that’s not the case though; they say it’s just hype, a technology looking for applications or a recipe for disappointment. Below we offer you a chance to let us know what you think. Please take our poll and let us know if you think these services being heralded as Augmented Reality are the real deal or something not worth reading about. Just below the poll we offer some links to a few of our most important articles about AR and some opposing viewpoints from readers. Let us know what you think!

RWW Readers Agree: Augmented Reality is Important

Augmented Reality, technology that superimposes a layer of data on top of a user’s view of the real world, is one of the hottest things around these days. Is it for real or is it just hype? We took a poll of ReadWriteWeb readers over the last 24 hours. With more than 400 responses, only 11% of you said it is just hype. 61% said you think it is important, including 21% who think Augmented Reality is both important and hype. Particularly interesting is that more than 50% of the respondents come from North America. Augmented Reality is far more closely watched so far in Europe and Asia. At least among RWW readers, it appears that North Americans are catching on!

Hier nun einige Videos

Key posts from our past coverage include:

• Augmented Reality: A Human Interface for Ambient Intelligence (A good introduction)
• Augmented Reality: Five Barriers to a Web That’s Everywhere
• Prepare Yourself: Augmented Reality Hype is on the Rise
• First iPhone Augmented Reality App Appears Live in App Store
• Hyperlinking the Real World
• RobotVision: A Bing-Powered iPhone Augmented Reality Browser

Wikitude Launches User-Generated Augmented Reality Browser for Android Users, iPhone Soon

Mobilizy Previews Augmented Reality GPS Navigation App

Yelp Brings First US Augmented Reality App to iPhone Store

The Wall Has Fallen: 3 Augmented Reality Apps Now Live in iPhone App Store

Virtuelle Zeitreise (in die Vergangenheit) bald möglich: Wissenschaftler des Fraunhofer-Institutes für graphische Datenverarbeitung (IGD) stellen auf der CeBIT (Halle 9, B40) das Konzept der “mobilen Augmented Reality” vor: Zu einem Gebäude wird passendes historisches Fotomaterial auf ein Smartphone geschickt. So soll Geschichte “live” erlebt werden können.

Wer möchte sich nicht gerne in der Geschichte zurückversetzen lassen, etwa in Berlin über den Alexanderplatz zu Zeiten von Alfred Döblin schlendern oder sehen, wie das war mit der Mauer, die die Stadt teilte? Die Forscher des Fraunhofer IGD können diesen Wunsch mit einem System bedienen, dass sie als erweiterte Realität bzw. als “Augmented Reality” bezeichnen. Dabei wird die Kamera im Smartphone zum magischen Blick in die Vergangenheit genutzt: “Das im Display angezeigte Bild einer gerade betrachteten Sehenswürdigkeit wird nahtlos mit historischen Fotografien und Erläuterungen überblendet.” Die von den Forschern entwickelte Technik ermittelt Position und Blickrichtung des Fotos und sucht das passende historische Material aus.

Den ganzen Artikel bei Heise weiterlesen: Fraunhofer stellt “Augmented Reality” für Mobiltelefone vor

Oslo ist eine Stadt in Norwegen? Stimmt, es ist aber auch der Name einer neuen Web2.0 Initiative der es um die Interoperabilität von Geodaten zwischen verschiedenen Plattformen, wie etwa social Networks geht. TechCrunch schreibt dazu: OSLO aims to break down mobile social network barriers

We’ve had OpenId to make the transport of your ID easier between Web sites. We’ve had initiatives on Data Portability to make it easier for you to move your data around between social networks and other apps. But what we haven’t had yet is a way to allow you to share your location between different mobile social platforms. That’s something that a new, largely European-inspired, initiative hopes to address. The alliance, called OSLO (Open Sharing of Location-based Objects) includes many of the players in mobile social networking and location-based social software. Twelve startups, all of whom serve their users with location-based services, have signed an agreement to enable their combined 30 million users to share location information and interact between networks. Currently most location-based systems operate in a similar fashion to instant messaging systems, and don’t interoperate. The question is, will Google’s Latitude and Yahoo!’s FireEagle come on board?

The 2009 Where 2.0 Conference: Becoming Location Aware

The past five years have seen significant changes in the geospatial web. Its importance and functionality have matured—it’s not just maps anymore! Where 2.0 2009 will take the exploration of “location aware” even further.

Where 2.0 2009 delves into the emerging technologies surrounding the geospatial industry, particularly the way our lives are organized, from finding a restaurant to finding the source of a new millennium plague. Maps are everywhere now, from your desktop to your iPhone to your car to your oil rig, and presented as realistically or as representationally as suits your needs. Thanks to the launch of Geo-Eye and other projects, location information makes devices more useful, and is therefore becoming a given. Read more

Eine Interessante Idee: Man schaue sich einfach mal den damals aufsehenerregenden Vortrag “State of the Geoweb” von John Hanke, Direktor von Google Earth & Maps und Jack Dangemond von ESRI an, den die Beiden letztes Jahr auf O’Reilleys Where2.0 2008 Konferenz hielten, und vergleiche das Ganze mit dem heutigen Stand der Technik und den angekündigten Vorträgen. Hier Das Video zum Vortrag “State of the Geoweb”:

Hier gibt es alle Videos der Where 2.0 2008

Und hier nun zur: The 2009 Where 2.0 Conference: Becoming Location Aware

Where is the next mapping frontier? Can we find it in data collection and visualization, or in innerspace? Who are the hackers and early adopters backing? If big companies jump in midgame, how do the rules change? Do first movers still have the advantage? And, of course, where is the money? Attendees at Where 2.0 will enjoy plenary sessions addressing current and future possibilities in location, a full day of expert-led workshops on cutting-edge location technologies, panel discussions, lightning talks, product demos and launches revealing exciting new tools, an Exhibit Hall showcasing some of the industry’s most important products and services, and the popular Where Fair.

For more information on Where 2.0 2009, visit: http://conferences.oreilly.com/where If you have ideas about areas you’d like to see included at the conference, share them with us at: http://en.oreilly.com/where2009/public/wiki/WhereIdeas If you’d like to stay up to date on information relating to Where 2.0 2009, sign up for the conference newsletter (login required) at: http://elists.oreilly.com/#conferences

Besonders erwähnt sei hier noch der O’Reilly Radar Report: Where 2.0: The State of the Geospatial Web. Hier eine gratis Leseprobe als PDF: Download Excerpt

Read more

Alle Technikbegeisterten aufgepasst! Die japanische Firma Tonchidot präsentiert den ersten Prototyp von Sekai Camera. Die Software benutzt ein Verfahren mit dem sich Informationen wie Text, Audio und Fotos auf einem Layer über die Aufnahme der Videokamera eines iPhone legen. Die Software wurde erstmals auf der TechCrunch 50 Conferenz im September vorgestellt. Hier das Video von der Präsentation auf der TechCrunch50.

Hier ist nun die erste Präsentation das Prototyp. Tagging The Real World: Sekai Camera For The iPhone Is Alive And Very Cool

Japan-based Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera, an iPhone app that presents tagged information in the form of a graphical layer over images in the iPhone camera. Use the iPhone camera to overlay tags and information onto any object in the real world. Users then need to look through the camera to see icons pop up that contain information on buildings, stores, sightseeing spots or objects. The prototype I tried out today was a bit buggy but worked as promised, showing tags with information (sounds, pictures and text) on other booths installed in the exhibition hall. Many people speculated how Sekai Camera works technically. The answer is simple: The user’s location is identified through GPS (no cell-tower triangulation or image recognition technology is being used). As the iPhone doesn’t have an internal compass, the direction of where the viewfinder is pointed at can’t be measured: Users need to flick fingers left or right to find relevant tags that are around them (as demonstrated in the video I took below). Tap a tag and the information it contains appears in the form of a window, for example a picture with a comment box below it or a voice message someone left earlier.

Weitere Artikel dazu:

TC50: Sekai Camera for Social Tagging on the iPhone

TC50: Tag real-world objects with Sekai Camera’s iPhone tool from the future

Eine interessante Podcast Sendung zu geo-sensitiven Informationstechnologien, dem “Geo-web” und Geo-tracking auf Mobilen Geräten, zum Beispiel mit Googles neuem Service Latitude gibt es beim BBC World Service Digital Planet

Hier ist die mp3: Digital Planet Map – Where are you from? Google has launched a new tracking device, Latitude that tells others not just what you’re doing but where you’re doing it. Marketed as a social networking tool, how much do tracking technologies like this invade our privacy or is it all part of the new way to stay in touch with friends and acquaintances? Gareth discusses this with Mark Ward from BBCnews.com.

Read more