Augmented Reality: When Real Life Isn’t Enough
OK everybody, hunker down for the next wave of technical wizardry known as “augmented reality” or AR for short. Bantered about by engineers and geeks for nearly two-decades, AR is finally going mainstream thanks to smartphones (such as the iPhone and Droid) as well as experimental, mainstream marketers.
Per Wikipedia, “Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery – creating a mixed reality.” The best exampled offered in Wikipedia’s explanation is the National Football League’s use of the yellow first down and blue scrimmage lines superimposed onto the game field. You know they’re not really there, right? It’s a great addition to the game watching experience for avid and novice fans alike.
The basic premise is that additional data (such as layered on visuals and sound) can be geographically triggered to give you a better, more useful experience. Think about a fighter pilot flying in the dark through a cloud. He literally can’t see anything, but can fly perfectly fine as the plane’s computer system visually superimposes data onto his helmet visor. While he’s in an actual jet flying thru the air, he might as well be playing a video game as he responds to the location-specific, computer generated data he’s using to fly.
Bringing this technology down to earth, practical and entertaining applications can now run on everyday mobile devices. The below video introduces augmented reality to help visitors in New York City. Basically, the application detects where you are standing in the city and offers arrows to the nearby subway stations:
In the splashiest use of augmented reality by a magazine publisher, Esquire magazine’s Best & Brightest of 2009 issue offered a half-dozen AR features. After you visit the Esquire web site and download their software, you simply hold the magazine up to your webcam which reads special symbols printed in the magazine. Fancy audio/video is triggered to then play on your computer. Seeing this system really gets the creative juices flowing. You have to see it to understand it, so check out the below video. I really enjoyed the novelty of Esquire’s system, but didn’t like the 70+ MB download it took to play. Non-geek people wouldn’t tolerate that. Perhaps the Esquire AR application software can automatically update itself at night once the next AR-enabled magazine is available. So while the download would remain large, it would essentially happen without hassling the user.
While I’m a big fan of Papa John’s pizza, their augmented reality project is underwhelming. Yes, the technology is cute, but the payoff is weak. A virtual driving game? C’mon — people need more than gimmicks to make their efforts worthwhile. But hey, give Papa John’s credit for giving it a go.
Finally, it wouldn’t be an official new media post without mentioning zombies and Skittles. So check out the following AR gaming video and be prepared to be blown away – literally and metaphorically speaking.
I predict that augmented reality technology will be woven into experiential marketing programs in the very near future. In my next post, I’ll offer a host of ideas on how to make my smartphone even more useful than it is today.
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