Augmented Reality – Are We Staring The Future In The Face?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Greg Sterling wrote a very interesting blog post on Augmented Reality, a new mobile phone technology that allows users a chance to get reviews of local business simply by scanning the area with your iPhone video. But Greg says this is primitive technology compared to what’s coming. I’ll have to agree.

Being able to use your mobile phone, or a hand held device of any kind, to scan your local area and retrieve background information on that area is a huge benefit. Unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet. Seeing reviews of local businesses is just the beginning. How about being able to scan a street corner and receiving a history lesson on that corner. “This is where Billy the Kid was shot and killed.” Or, “a brothel once frequented by America’s most influential politicians and businessmen once stood here.”

There are all sorts of ways this technological innovation could be used. Perhaps you might scan an area with your iPhone and be offered a menu of choices concerning information that you’d like to receive about the local buildings in your video view.

For instance:

• Restaurant Reviews
• Store Hours
• Real Estate Data (MLS maybe?)
• History Lessons
• Literary Allusions (which works of literature have mentioned this place?)
• Famous People (who has been associated with this area?)
• Weather Forecast
• Recent Local News
• Specials and Sales Being Offered By Businesses In Your Phone’s View
• Directions From Point A (Where You Are Now) To Point B (A Pre-Determined Grid Coordinate Or Address)
• Estimated Taxi Fares

The list could go on. Just pick up your mobile phone and scan, or take a picture of a particular building or geographic location (an open field even), and tell your phone what information you are looking for. Wouldn’t that be cool? How long will it be before we see that? And what kind of wild and crazy things will webmasters be able to do to let people know more about them and where/how to find them?