Layar Could Be the Future of "Augmented Reality" (Video)
I've long fantasized about being able to walk down city streets and get information on my phone about area demographics, histories of buildings I see and block-by-block news. A new Android app being talked about today makes that fantasy feel a little closer to reality.
Dutch software firm SPRXmobile will soon release an application for the Android phone that it calls "the world's first Augmented Reality browser." Called Layar, the app is a platform that makes sets of data viewable on top of the viewfinder of your mobile phone as you pan around a city and point at buildings. Real estate, banking and restaurant search companies have already created layers of information available on the platform, which is limited to use in the Netherlands for now. The demo video of the service is quite striking.
The blog NotJustReality quotes Raimo van der Klein, co-founder of SPRXmobil, in saying: "Eventually, the physical and the virtual worlds will become one." That's a nightmarish vision that warrants serious skepticism, but this app for phones sure is cool! The dystopian consequences of having a layer of commercial information placed literally between your eyes and the world around you are nothing to take lightly - but throw in Wikipedia and Outside.in-type layers and we'll likely be happy. In our most recent coverage of the Augmented Reality market we highlighted Wikitude, a Wikipedia layer for Android phones. (How about some iPhone love, already, developers?)
Layar is reminiscent of data layers on Google Earth, Nokia's Point and Find or the excellent Android Sky Map app, which lets users point their phones into the sky and identifies constellations.
Google's Talk Android blog says that Layar will be available in the Android store shortly but there's no word when it will be made available for other countries. Layar says its developers are working hard on building for other platforms, the iPhone in particular.
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this is ooold stuff. Actually, another app for G1 is there for a long time - Wikitude AR Travel Guide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EA8xlicmT8
Now it will be also possible with iPhone. But even more: new iPhone has one more useful sensor for this kind of apps: autofocus. And autofocus in any camera device means the ability to measure distance to an object. I wonder if Apple will enable this kind functionality in the SDK… That would give enormous possibilities to new apps.
sorry, you mentioned Wikitude
@Konstantin
We are not the first AR application but we are the first AR browser.. The data layers are like webpages in traditional browsers. Hence making us a browser. We enable our partners to create AR experiences we just offer the interface, easy browsing and searching.
Expect thinks like "bookmarking your favorite layers" to be added to our application.
What about Tonchidot? from last year's tech conference?
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/17/tonchidot-madness-the-video/
Demoed on the iPhone, what ever happened to these guys?
So that's why you're thinking about getting an Android phone.
http://twitter.com/marshallk/status/2195456417
Pretty Minority-Reportish and cool!
Jacob, that's a great question. I hadn't noticed Tochnidot before but their webpage doesn't look like it's been updated since TC50.
Alexander, these apps made me think about it for sure. And I agree - it both Minority-Reportish *and* cool. Ambivalence about the future seems appropriate to m
@Raimo so will there be an iPhone app as well?
Can you explain the "dystopian consequences" of this product? In reading your post, it sounds like you hate technology. Layar and products like Wikitude AR are precisely what we need, the capability to translate and display deep contextual relationships between data and the real-world. Exciting.
Ben, I think it's pretty creepy to think of "the physical and the virtual worlds becoming one" - and through the rose-colored glasses of commercial activity. I'm excited about the usefulness of this technology, but am also concerned that the physical world has a lot of beauty that is best appreciated when enjoyed without interference from the virtual. I'm concerned about the virtual world interfering with our ability to see the physical world clearly. I'm concerned about the virtual world keeping us complacent while unacceptable amounts of suffering in the physical world are hidden from us by chimeras of commercial data layers. I can imagine a "hide homeless people, show fur coat sales" filter and I can imagine some people walking down the street with it in front of their eyes all the time. Make sense?
@spin is gonna love this.... if he hasn't already seen it.
Posted by: Brian Daniel Eisenberg
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June 16, 2009 11:56 AM
AND its Android. I've so got to get coding up my new Wave/Android app.... the clock is clearly ticking with a new push in this area. Stoked!
Posted by: Brian Daniel Eisenberg
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June 16, 2009 11:57 AM
Marshall, I respect your opinion, perhaps there are people that won't readily discern between the physical and virtual world - i.e. turning off media devices. And if one is so inclined to watch hour upon hour of television I agree, perhaps that distinction won't be made. I do however, look at recent events re: Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders. It's a slippery slope I agree but the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. They do have the potential to compliment each other. What scares me more than anything is a third layer of advertising; which we'll certainly see more of as these applications evolve. Anyway, point taken, thanks for writing back.
@konstantin
We are working on iPhone 3G S app...
I have a slightly different take on this one. I think that there is a really interesting play to leverage the hardware accessories support within iPhone OS 3.0 to build external 3D/VR glasses that plug into the iPhone, which I blogged about here:
3D Glasses: Virtual Reality, Meet the iPhone
http://bit.ly/141NNg
Check it out, if interested.
Cheers,
Mark
Layar Could Be the Future of "Augmented Reality" http://bit.ly/2LZ1Y6 [from http://twitter.com/marshallk/statuses/2195323065]
Posted by: Marshall Kirkpatrick
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June 16, 2009 8:32 PM
True ..!! we are working on Iphone 3G .
"We are working on iPhone 3G S app... "
and there was me thinking there wasn't much point in upgrading to the 3G S!
Looks great, can't wait for this kind of technology to take off.
Awesome technology. Layar can definitely help businesses make money. http://bit.ly/WR3SE
What do you think Google is doing with their streetview? To be succsesfull with an application like this, you need content and integration with other services.
I think this startup is aiming a bit too high..
Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders
Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders...
VIDEO IZLE
SOHBET
This won't work exactly like this on the iPhone. Apple does not permit the use of the live camera via it's API's. Why? Who knows. It's Apple. I have an iPhone and think it's the cats ass, but seriously - the developer restrictions and the app store make it such a restrictive platform that I am looking to dump it ASAP for an Android device. The HTC Magic is available here in Canada, and I will be moving as soon as I can.
Hello,
Didn't ever heard of wikitude already in October 2008?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EA8xlicmT8
The future is indeed promising.
Dominique.
Great demo and certainly an interesting technology. However, from a practical viewpoint, I wouldn't see myself walking around in a city with my mobile (camera) in front of my nose the whole time to see all these layars. I much more prefer a flat (Google) map indicating the stuff I am interested in with possibly additional info.
Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders شات
I like de software but I do have my doubts about de future of augmented reality.
GPS-signal combined with 2D information is enough. I will definitely not walk around in cities scanning the surroundings with an expensive phone looking at a 3 to 4 inch screen.
Augmented reality is nice for games and advertisment that make use of de natural surroundings.
“Sky Map and Wikitude are specific to a particular data set”.
And Layar is specific to one country. If you’ve ever used Wikitude, you’ll realise that there is only so much data you can display on the screen. In my mind, this is just a Wikitude copy with a broader data set - one which they will be forced to narrow in order for people to see past the ‘noise’. But then it will just be Wikitude!
Don’t get me wrong, this looks to be an excellent app. Just don’t go toting it as ‘the first of its kind’ as it is not - by a long way. And unless you are Dutch, it is not even one of many, let alone one of a kind!
I want to say - thank you for this!
I want to say - thank you for this
Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders
very usefull for us...thank you
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And Layar is specific to one country. If you’ve ever used Wikitude
I have a slightly different take on this one. I think that there is a really interesting play to leverage the hardware accessories support within iPhone OS 3.0 to build external 3D/VR glasses that plug into the iPhone, which I blogged about here:
3D Glasses: Virtual Reality
I have a slightly different take on this one. I think that there is a really interesting play to leverage the hardware accessories support within iPhone OS 3.0 to build external 3D/VR glasses that plug into the iPhone, which I blogged about here:
3D Glasses: Virtual Reality
Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders
thanks alt
thankU
working hard on building for other platforms, the iPhone in particular.
working hard on building for other platforms, ..
working hard on building for other platforms, the iPhone in particular..
I have a slightly different take on this one. I think that there is a really interesting play to leverage the hardware accessories support within iPhone OS 3.0 to build external 3D/VR glasses that plug into the iPhone, which I blogged about here:
3D Glasses: Virtual Reality
working hard on building for other platforms, .
Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders, ..
Twitter and Iran, where the virtual world is both informing and empowering people, giving people a voice beyond their own borders, ...
I have a slightly different take on this one. I think that there is a really interesting play to leverage the hardware accessories support within iPhone OS 3.0 to build external 3D/VR glasses that plug into the iPhone, which I blogged about here:
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