Augmented reality and Google Glass

So well, Google Glass continues to generate interest and commentary in equal amount. What is Glass, you say? A wearable computer in the form of a pair of glasses, minus the glass, with a tiny prism that projects information directly in front of your eyes. And a tiny camera for image capture. And yes, GPS and wifi support for figuring out where you are.  Currently it supports direct video/still picture recording and broadcasting with the added benefit of being hands free, so there are plenty of Youtube videos depicting its usage. The device is voice activated, and you can have your email, news and other notifications projected right in front of your eyes.

This is ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room – augmented reality. Augmented reality is a way to view the physical world with an overlay of information. Currently, you can get a taste of it with the Layar browser for Android (or iPhone if you swing that way). The browser uses your phone’s camera and GPS to locate your position, then can fetch geotagged information for nearby points of interest. For example, you can view geotagged tweets, Wikipedia entries, public Flickr photos or Foursquare places nearby.  This is very rudimentary at present, and with the arrival of Glass, there’s a whole new way of bringing the physical and digital world together waiting to be created.

 

The layer

Adding annotations to the physical world within a digital construct, mildly put, brings about a few challenges. The first is reconciling multiple annotations for an obviously single physical location. The solution to this is the layer (which is what the aforementioned browser partly seems to be named for).  A layer is a virtual collection of overlaid data that can be turned on or off within your viewer as a filter. So you may be interested in only geotagged photos around you, and you turn on a layer that displays photos and nothing else. Another layer may show public tweets. Going a step further, we can even have access controlled layers, or allow creation of a layer on the fly that is for your personal use and no one else’s.  Every location should also have a public layer that is in the control of whoever owns or runs that public space.

You could create a layer on the fly, perhaps using a smartphone or desktop app that pairs with your glasses, and then add whatever you wanted to it. The layer would be yours and visible to you only unless you choose to share it with others (and allow them editing rights, so that you have a collaborative space in the real world!).  The uses are aplenty – imagine a conference room whose whiteboard can have multiple annotations from multiple groups within the organization, who create their own layers. Or a public place with personal messages or even digital graffiti visible only to you and your friends.

 

Indoor ‘GPS’

This is not actual GPS per se, but a currently new and evolving system to track your position within a large building, using wifi. I propose this goes further with layers, wherein you could map the entire floor, plumbing, electrical and other utility plans onto different layers for easier building maintenance. Imagine IT staff being able to see a highlighted line or set of lines from their server to different routers and users. Or being able to see the physical computer on a huge floor of cubicles highlighted for them to inspect.  A new type of network monitoring app could physically highlight defective network nodes within the building for people to fix. And for the general public, a public indoor layer that highlights restrooms, fire exits, pantries and other amenities.  (Again, if you’re in a foreign country, the layer could display superimposed signs in your own language).

If you’re at an airport to catch a flight – an indoor plan of the airport would let your glasses guide you to the correct exit gate by highlighting the shortest path (perhaps a giant arrow pointing the way).  And if you need to meet a friend in a crowded place, you could highlight yourself with a marker (in your own private shared layer of course) for your friend to see.

Publishing indoor GPS information is key for exploring new places, and this requires some kind of mark up language to indicate locations of points of interest within the building.

 

Augmented experiences

Imagine standing at the ruins of the Colosseum in Rome, or in front of any old abandoned historical monument and wondering what it must have looked like during its heyday. An AR presentation could superimpose a digital copy of the Colosseum over the real thing, showing how it would’ve appeared when it was intact. And then perhaps create a 3D simulation of Roman citizens walking around or a re-enactment of a gladiator fight, an AR movie if you will, that someone using these glasses can view with the appropriate layer, while actually physically being in the place where it all once really happened!

Or imagine a haunted castle tour of an actual castle, with augmented reality ‘ghosts’ that are visible (and audible) only to Glass users.

Construction companies could similarly project a 3D model of the finished building over the site under construction, and the world of educational apps is limitless. Kids needn’t be stuck in the classroom or even have to lug tablets and laptops around when they can directly  view and interact with the physical world. Industrial designers can view a simulated object in physical space and observe it from all angles. As for art, well, augmented reality art installations in physical spaces can be easily deployed without any disruption to the actual space.  Public spaces and tourist spots could publish a layer for tourists so that they can view shop/road signs in their native language.

 

Conclusion

Google Glass opens up exciting new possibilities to combine the digital and the physical world. It is a shame to see the tech press getting paranoid about it as though there is nothing more to it than a portable camera.