Position-based applications are called “gravimetric,” and make use of a mobile device’s GPS and compass information, and then use the device’s location and position to discern what objects are nearby. Some applications also use image recognition, in which input to the camera is compared against a library of images to find a match; more recent applications can detect and interpret gestures and postures as commands to perform certain functions.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 (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.