Yelp Brings First US Augmented Reality App to iPhone Store

Written by Marshall Kirkpatrick / August 27, 2009 12:31 PM / 21 Comments

Social review service Yelp has snuck the first Augmented Reality (AR) iPhone app specifically for the US into the iTunes App Store. The undisclosed new feature allows iPhone 3Gs owners to shake their phones three times to turn on a view called "the Monocle." This view uses the phone's GPS and compass to display markers for restaurants, bars and other nearby businesses on top of the camera's view.

Blogger Robert Scoble discovered the hidden feature and posted about it on FriendFeed today. A screenshot is below.

See also, from 1 hour later: The Wall Has Fallen: 3 Augmented Reality Apps Now Live in iPhone App Store

Right: Blogger Josh Bancroft is surrounded by Yelp-reviewed businesses when he looks south.

Developers did not expect to be able to get Augmented Reality apps into the App Store until the release of the next iPhone OS this fall. Earlier this week, though, we reported on what appeared to be the very first - an update to an app called Metro Paris Subway.

Layar and Wikitude, two European companies offering multi-purpose AR browsers, both have Android AR apps that include content for the United States, but neither company has released an iPhone app yet. Layar's CEO said yesterday that he was testing an iPhone version of his company's software and that it was "very fast."

Building a little AR into an already established app seems to be the method of choice for sneaking AR into the app store.

The best use case for this Yelp app might not be for finding businesses out of sight, but for pointing your phone at businesses you are physically near and discovering Yelp reviews of those places.

Yelp had already built a layer of data for AR displays that it deployed on the Layar platform. Having done that, it was probably relatively trivial to build its own AR feature. Correction: AR company GoWeb3D says it actually built the Yelp layer for Layar using the Yelp API and with Yelp's blessing.

This may be what the future of mobile Augmented Reality looks like: many vendors offering their own in-app AR views, and a handful of AR browsers like Layar, Wikitude and Acrossair aggregating many different published AR views or layers.

Thanks to Steve Garfield for the demo videos above.

Comments

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Hats off to Yelp. Great way to get it in! We should have thought of something like this ;-)

Raimo
Layar

Posted by: Raimo | August 27, 2009 12:54 PM

"This may be what the future of mobile Augmented Reality looks like - many vendors offereing [sic] their own in-app AR views..."

Richard MacManus chimes in and states RFID needs to be added to AR so the tags are displayed in ...3...2...

Posted by: Todd | August 27, 2009 12:59 PM

Yelp Brings First US-Specific Augmented Reality to iPhone App Store http://bit.ly/19LoPR [from http://twitter.com/marshallk/statuses/3586230026]

Posted by: Marshall Kirkpatrick | August 27, 2009 1:02 PM

This looks awesome! Thanks Marshall.

Posted by: Dana Oshiro | August 27, 2009 1:07 PM

GoWeb3D built the Yelp layer on Layar Reality Browser using Yelp's API.

Posted by: Dave Elchoness | August 27, 2009 1:07 PM

Very cool.

Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/jaymeydad#500ba | August 27, 2009 1:34 PM

[Video] Yelp iPhone Augmented Reality Application http://blip.tv/file/2524950

Posted by: steve Garfield | August 27, 2009 3:04 PM

Not to take anything away from the accomplishment ... but:

1) The video showed NOTHING of the AR, and;

2) Steve seemed to need to do quite the little dance to get Yelp to bring up the AR. If he were on the street, or in a subway car or something, it might not have been possible.

I guess it's a start ... of sorts.

Posted by: James | August 27, 2009 4:08 PM

Check Part II with a quick look at it in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU967IIf6KM

Posted by: steve Garfield | August 27, 2009 4:18 PM

You're suppose to SHAKE the phone, not swing or wave it.

Posted by: optikal | August 27, 2009 4:40 PM

It's innovative and that's awesome, but I think this type of interface will be a passing gimmick until more advanced image processing is built into the mobile device.

My thoughts on what does matter about it here - http://bit.ly/12wtcY

My $0.02.

Posted by: Alex Hawkinson | August 27, 2009 4:56 PM

great app but ...sadly it is only for US :-(

Posted by: Sachin | August 28, 2009 3:23 AM

Yeah, I *finally* shook it the right way and I got the Monicle! Seems a little gimmicky, but hey, it's a start! I also had to hold it upright and not horizontally or it totally got it's directions wrong. I figure they will fix that or maybe it's just that I'm sitting inside my office near a bunch of computers, etc that are throwing it complete off! :)

Posted by: Scott | August 28, 2009 10:05 AM

Too bad this needs the compass and is only available to 3GS users. I wonder if this is the case with all of the augmented reality apps.

Posted by: John Vasko | August 31, 2009 7:12 AM

its not particularly accurate though

Posted by: aziz | September 2, 2009 2:03 PM

Hmm looking promising Application. Will surely check it later.

Posted by: iPhone Applications | September 3, 2009 3:05 AM

very thanks for article!

Posted by: nusret | September 3, 2009 6:56 AM

if yelp introduce this app for 3g, then its really awesome..

Posted by: Lucky | September 3, 2009 2:37 PM

Nice, can't wait to get one! Yelp sure has their eyes open, us local businesses were looking this for our services as well..

Posted by: West Coast Vinyl | September 7, 2009 1:49 AM

This is really a great idea I am surprised it's not in wider use already.

Posted by: kusa4000 | December 4, 2009 9:24 PM

I've yet to download the Yelp app for android, but I'll probably give it a try with the check-in feature. But I'm probably more likely to check in with foursquare though. I had a hard enough time convincing my friends to try foursquare, its unlikely they'll switch.

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