Augmented Reality and LBS Developments

Check out www.mobvis.org and ‘demos’ for some interesting technological developments in Location Based Services and Augmented Reality.

After taking a photo with your mobile phone, Mobvis technology allows for accurate location recognition, placing hyperlinks on certain items it can provide information about, such as local shops, transport stops and timetables and cinemas. The interesting thing is that to date GPS capabilities have not been quite so accurate and highly focussed, but Mobvis allows for highly targeted information display as its search is limited to what is displayed in your mobile viewfinder.

As Mediapost points out, the technology could act as an “incredible interactive guide.” Going one step further to suggest a GPS enabled city infrastructure, “Assuming city buses are equipped with GPS and telemetric units, it could also tell you how long you have to wait for the next bus.”

Impact on search

The technology certainly has implications on search, and how and what users search for, as it in effect allows people to ‘navigate their own reality.’ It would give incredible insight into peoples’ search habits and how these are impacted by their physical location.

Mobvis are currently testing the technology in three European cities.

- Sam