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Augmented reality, a capability that has been around for decades, is shifting from what was once seen as a gimmick to a bonafide game-changer.

Various forms of augmented reality, starting with early head-mounted displays, have been around for more than 30 years. Over that time, increased bandwidth and smart phone adoption, as well as a proliferation of AR browser applications, have helped AR evolve from a family of cool gadgets on the periphery of graphics and visualization technologies to an increasingly central player in the technology landscape.

Augmented reality (AR) refers to the addition of a computer-assisted contextual layer of information over the real world, creating a reality that is enhanced or augmented.

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or an indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics.

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or an indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real-world with a simulated one.

AR has become common in sports telecasting. The yellow "first down" line seen in television broadcasts of American football games shows the line the offensive team must cross to receive a first down using the 1st & Ten system. The real-world elements are the football field and players, and the virtual element is the yellow line, which augment the image in real time. Similarly, in ice hockey an AR colored trail shows location and direction of the puck. Sections of Rugby fields and cricket pitches display sponsored images.

AR Scratch, the first augmented-reality (AR) authoring environment designed for children.

this environment allows pre-teens to create programs that mix real and virtual spaces. Children can display virtual objects on a real-world space seen through a camera, and they can control the virtual world through interactions between physical objects.

Augmented reality is changing the way we view the world -- or at least the way its users see the world. Picture yourself walking or driving down the street. 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. 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.

Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments. This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between what's real and what's computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell.

Augmented reality is changing the way we view the world -- or at least the way its users see the world. Picture yourself walking or driving down the street. 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. 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.

he 2010 Horizon Report includes examples of augmented reality like the Wii under the category Gesture Based Computing. Gesture recognition enables humans to interact with mechanical devices using simple natural gestures. In the future, the use of a keyboard, a mouse or even a touch pad may become a thing of the past with innovations in gesture based computing. See a video slide show of The New Media Consortium/ Educause report Click Gesture-Based Computing : 2010 NMC Horizon Report iPhone geotags. Geotagging and Geolocation Another important part of augmented reality applications is the use of geotagging and geolocation. A Geotag is a GPS coordinate that associates content such as videos, textual information, audio or any user- generated content to a specific location. When photographers use digital cameras, they have the choice to date stamp the video or photo. A Geotag is similar to that type of tag. AR applications draw on specific tags created by companies but will also depend on content that everyday users add through Geotagging. When we go to Google Earth to view a location, we are now able to find pictures and information added by users through these types of tags. Marker vs Markerless Augmented Reality AR Marker QR Code. AR Marker QR Semacode. Currently, many people associate augmented reality with black and white squares that trigger augmented reality elements. These black and white squares are called markers. Markers are also called QR (Quick Response) codes or Semacodes. A QR code is a two dimentional bar code that allows its content to be decoded at high speed. Markerless technology requires no marker to know the position of the object or person. Smartphone browsers that layer information over live locations are often considered in the markerless category, although they still use embedded "marked" information through geolocation and geotagging. The goal is to have augmented reality work much like this HP commercial Jerry Seinfeld for HP

The Wrap™ 920AR augmented reality eyewear and maxReality™ plug-in for Autodesk® 3ds Max® empower you to turn your desktop into a “HOLO-Deck”. maxReality provides the power to easily bring Autodesk® 3ds Max® characters to life on your desktop, displayed in stereoscopic 3D through the Wrap 920AR augmented reality eyewear. For those familiar with the basic operation of Autodesk 3ds Max it takes only minutes until you are able to view in an augmented reality application using the maxReality Viewer and provided marker. Never has augmented reality been so fast and easy. A wearable display with a 67-inch screen, as viewed from ten feet, stereo video capture, 6-degrees of freedom head tracking, VGA connectivity for your computer and plug-in software to bring your Autodesk® 3ds Max® characters to life – this bundle has it all.

Augmented reality or AR is a mixture of the real-world and virtual computer-generated imagery or information. With the Wrap 920AR, the real world is captured by it’s stereo camera system and displayed in the eyewear on what appears to your eyes as a 67-inch display as seen from 10-feet (3m). This image, which can be displayed in standard 2D or 3D, can be augmented with virtually any form of computer-generated data in the form of text, still images or even video. Until now, augmented reality has been limited to bulky stationary displays or portable hand-held systems with limited capabilities. Although these solutions implemented AR technology, it was in an unnatural format with obvious technology barriers. The Wrap 920AR is the first consumer product that empowers users to experience AR in a real-world environment – worn like sunglasses and displaying 3D graphics. Developer Support Vuzix provides an evolving SDK (Software Development Kit) and additional resources designed to aid and assist developers in the implementation of support for Vuzix products in virtual and augmented reality applications. Go to the Developer Support for additional information and links to downloadable developer resources.

The Augmented Environments Lab (AEL) is a research group in the GVU Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

We use the term Augmented Environments to emphasize our interest in systems and experiences where the physical environment is an essential element of the experience, and does not merely act as a background for the overlaid computer media. From the artifacts in a historic home to the people sharing a game around a kitchen table, the places and people are what gives the experience its meaning.

In this near-future scenario, just one of many possible applications for the technology, the concept of augmented reality makes air travel more bearable. More than just a series of visual cues, the technology can even combine auditory sensors and other stimuli to make high-tech data part of your everyday life. Like robotics, there’s a visceral and physical representation of the underlying artificial intelligence involved. And with real-world implications that range from expediting everyday business travel to fueling potential military research, facilitating heightened responses in emergency scenarios and powering the world’s most immersive video games, augmented reality will forever change how we think about data and how we process information.“Augmented reality will ultimately become a part of everyday life,” explains Sam Bergen, an associate art director for digital innovation at the ad agency Ogilvy and Mather. “Kids will use it in school as a learning tool – imagine Google Earth with AR- or AR-enabled text books. Shoppers will use it to see what products will look like in their home. Consumers will use it to visually determine how to set up a computer. Architects and city planners will even use it to see how new construction will look, feel, and affect the area they are developing.”

The head-mounted display used in augmented reality systems will enable the user to view superimposed graphics and text created by the system. As of today, the technology nearest to augmented reality head mounts is one that is being used in virtual reality applications. There are two basic head mount design concepts that are being researched for augmented reality systems and these are the video see-through systems and optical see-through systems. The video see-through systems block out the user's view of the outside environment and play the image real time through a camera mounted on the head gear. The main problem with this type of system is the delay in image adjustment whenever the user moves his head. Optical see-through systems, on the other hand, make use of technology that "paints" the images directly onto the user's retina through rapid movement of the light source. Though this system has its drawbacks, particularly its high price, researchers are confident that this system will be a lot more portable and less inconspicuous for future augmented reality systems.

n 1990, Boeing researcher Tom Caudell first coined the term “augmented reality” to describe a digital display used by aircraft electricians that blended virtual graphics onto a physical reality. As for the computer science world’s definition of augmented reality (AR) though, it’s more detailed, but essentially the same: Augmented reality is the interaction of superimposed graphics, audio and other sense enhancements over a real-world environment that’s displayed in real-time.AR is not a new concept either. In fact, we’ve seen it in many different ways over the years, but we just might not have noticed. From the yellow first-down lines sketched over a televised football game to the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit—or even examples as basic as where a projector’s been used to project images atop a real setting—all are examples of virtual graphics being superimposed upon a real-life situation.

A person who wishes to experience a learning session via augmented reality would don a pair of see-through glasses that also host two tiny video cameras and a pair of earphones. A tiny computer, perhaps worn on the wrist or around the waist, would recognize the geometry and content of the user's immediate environment and overlay that environment with meaningful images and sounds for a specific purpose. From the user’s point of view, he or she would apparently see and hear other people, objects, or events taking place right in front of or around them. These augmented perceptions would appear to be completely real. In technical terms, they would be rendered by the wearable computer with light shading that takes into account both the ambient and directional light sources found in the user's immediate environment. Put simply, the augmented reality system is "projecting" people, objects, environments or other elements onto the environment around you.

Augmented books, now just beginning to enter the market, are another interesting application of this technology. The German company Metaio is developing books that include AR elements, such as globes that pop up on the pages. The books are printed normally; after purchase, consumers install special software on their computers and point a webcam at the book to see the visualizations. The technology allows any existing book to be developed into an augmented reality edition after publication; an atlas featuring 3D views of geographic locations is currently in development.

The basic idea is to immerse a user inside an imaginary, computer-generated "virtual world." Although many different technologies can be used to achieve this effect, they all share a common result: the user is cut off from any view of the real world outside. Much less attention has been paid to the field of Augmented Reality, although its potential is at least as great as that of Virtual Environments. In Augmented Reality, the user can see the real world around him, with computer graphics superimposed or composited with the real world. Instead of replacing the real world, we supplement it. Ideally, it would seem to the user that the real and virtual objects coexisted.

I think the real thing Google brings to the table is introducing the feasible technology so that game companies can follow suit. I don't think the information in Google Street View is granular or clear enough to satisfy the needs of a game, but it might inspire an innovative game developer to mount a camera to a car and go capture the data in a similar fashion for their projects.That being said, Google Earth is a fascinating piece of software, and I would love to see some sort of online multiplayer experience that could take advantage of all that data

Augmented Reality is important in education for a number of reasons: The real world can be annotated. Location information can be available in places or on objects Users can interact with virtual and physical objects at the same time. User can see virtual model from all angles. User can experiment/practice with virtual objects in a realistic but no consequence situation. (For example, practice surgery, firefighting) Engagement- rich information engages user -appeals to different learning styles

What is Layar? The Layar Reality Browser shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of the real world as seen through the camera of your mobile phone. This technology is called Augmented Reality. We augment the real world as seen through your mobile phone, based on your location.