Augmented reality can change the way we view the world, and is going to become a major aspect of our future. With augmented-reality displays, which will eventually look much like a normal pair of glasses, informative graphics will appear in your field of view, and audio will coincide with whatever you see similar to how we viewed the San Francisco on our guided buggy tour. Instead of just seeing the natural landscape like we did and heard slight advertisements for restaurants and shops along the way, we will see a virtual guide in the dashboard of our buggy pointing out everything. Instead of being instructed to look somewhere we might be assisted with arrows, and instead of commercial advertisements like on the radio we might see something more like a pop up on a computer. These enhancements will be refreshed continually to reflect the movements of your head. Similar devices and applications already exist, particularly on smartphones like the iPhone.
Let’s say you're hungry and at a busy intersection. There are multiple restaurants around you, but you don't know where they are or which one is the best. You could look up each one on a computer, or just take your chances by holding up your phone to buildings around you and seeing comments about those places pop up as you turn. Another example is shopping. You can point your camera at a product and see a layer of information about it, like prices of the same product at other stores in the area or on the Internet and see customer reviews and comments. And this functionality only requires a few things. First, a smartphone with a camera to capture reality. Second, a connection to the Internet for receiving the layer of information. Third, software on your phone to bring it all together. It also helps to have a phone with GPS and a compass so it knows which direction you're facing. Soon our reality will become so integrated with technology that we will all put on glasses not just for sun protection but to see a more enriched world. A world where you can see impossible things pop up around you.
My favorite example is of an augmented reality for gps. There will be programs created so that you don’t have to look at your phones for directions instead you will hear the directions like we do today and the path will be highlighted in front of you so that you don’t take the wrong exit or miss it because you needed to look down at your phone. Something that exists now is located inside inoventions at Disneyland in Anaheim Ca. You are tasked to be a doctor and reassemble a human being, so by putting on these glasses and grabbing a joy stick you grab body parts from a conveyer belt and assemble the person accordingly.
Computer graphics have become much more sophisticated since in the early 1970s. Game graphics are pushing the barriers of photorealism. Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments.
On the spectrum between virtual reality, which creates immersive, computer-generated environments, and the real world, augmented reality is closer to the real world. Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists. Both video games and cell phones are driving the development of augmented reality either for fun uses like placing a giant Reptar on the empire state building or for practical Uses. Everyone from tourists, to soldiers, to someone looking for the closest subway stop can now benefit from the ability to place computer-generated graphics in their field of vision.
Lastly its uses in learning for children would be extremely advantageous. In a time where the average childs attention span is the span of a few seconds we need to come up with new ways to keep their attention. There are books out now that tell stories like old pop up books but with animations. The story of jack and the bean stock comes to life on the page and you see the characters move along with the story as you read. Also in science they recreated a volcano so you can see into it and all the layers of crust that make up the volcano. As you read you can see the reaction on the inside and watch the monstrous mt. erupt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKw_Mp5YkaE
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