Augmented Reality – Virtually Unstoppable?

New year, new diet, new technological revolution? The latter remains a dubious question as we enter 2010, will the new decade forever be known by the catchphrase “there’s an app for that”.

Augmented Reality [AR] deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data and has actually been around for a while. Commonly used by TV broadcasters to enhance viewing of sports such as American Football, Hockey and Athletics field events (showing distance markers and ball trails). But it’s really starting to pick up its virtual feet now the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system are making AR mobile. Depending on your level of technological savvy-ness you may or may not be up to speed on the range of applications available in the market. So here’s a brief look at a few of the top apps of the past year to help set the scene:

Top Augmented Reality Applications in 2009

Layar

This revolutionary application from SPRX Mobile takes the image from your phone’s camera and overlays information about the objects within it. You can see details on just about anything from nearby bus stops and restaurants to historical landmarks and real estate prices.

ACrossair Nearest Tube

Currently only available on the iPhone this app is one for anyone other than a London transport guru. It has a dual function, telling you where the nearest tube stations are (direction, kilometres / miles away and what line they’re on) and it also displays a map of all 13 lines with coloured arrows to help even an underground novice reach their destination.

Gunman

This first person shooter is essentially laser tag, without the lasers. You can play against your friends (identified by shirt colour), with up to 4 player connection using WiFi. The game works by overlaying a scope on your screen which is used to aim and fire at your enemies (or friends). You can set game length or have an unlimited match to really keep you on your toes, with kills and accuracy tallied up automatically to declare the winner after each round.

So what does this mean?

Personally, I love the idea of being able to find the nearest take-away, tube station or shop selling the red shoes I need (honestly, I definitely need them!) at half price while I’m out and about. And that’s before I’ve got into the outlet of choice and used a further app to view, customise and adapt products before purchase. But there are many others that believe AR will soon fade into the virtual wallpaper as not enough consumers are able to access the platforms needed to take full advantage of applications, and once the novelty of some applications has worn off they will cease to be of any use to consumers, who will put their dancing dinosaur back in its cage forever.

Despite the growing number of ‘just for fun’ applications there are some genuinely useful ideas emerging based on one of two themes – location and retail. Location is fairly self explanatory; the application identifies where you are, through GPS software on your phone or images generated through video capture, then gives information on the nearest facility, based on the type of application. Companies utilising this technology include HSBC for cash points, Acrossair for tube stops and Lastminute.com which gives the location of theatres, music venues, restaurants or pubs in the local area.

The second theme starting to take hold is that of retailers, particularly clothing retailers, using AR applications to enhance the buying process online. This technology is currently being implemented on PC’s as opposed to mobiles to give consumers more of the shopping experience in their homes and enable them to see how products would look if they were trying them on in store. A successful example of this is Ray-Bans Virtual Mirror, which allows consumers to see how glasses look by sitting in front of a webcam and seeing the glasses on their face on screen. This is where augmented reality can really impact on the online retail environment, enhancing the user experience and improving conversion rates by bringing the online shopping experience to life.

As 2010 progresses the key to sustaining this technology is going to lie with consumer take up of the platforms that enable AR applications to function. The industry has embraced it and is pushing out applications at a phenomenal rate, now it’s the turn of consumers to take control and ask “is there an app for that?”