Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/70379
communications, GPS and a camera feed to contend with. The software has to process and interpret these elements as well as deal with 2-D and 3-D graphics, geo- graphic data processing, worldwide coordinate support, sensor optimization and client-server wireless commu- nications—people generally expect their GIS to do this, but not on something with a 1GB processor and 50MB of available RAM. Several handset manufacturers will be releasing devices in 2012 with quad-core chips that will enable faster and more-complex processing, but the available memory will need to increase by a similar scale to handle the graphics rendering and large datasets. One of the most common AR questions is about accu- racy, and it's a valid concern. If a user is excavating a road to find a gas pipe, they can't be 12 meters wrong—this is costly and dangerous. Unfortunately, +/-10 meters is a common resolution from a phone's GPS receiver, but as requirements for greater accuracy increase, manufactur- ers are being forced to improve onboard hardware. It's important to carefully explain to customers what to expect in terms of accuracy. Users should be aware that they can purchase an OEM Bluetooth GPS receiver and likely achieve +/-2.5-meter resolution for little cost, which is acceptable for most situations. This same issue relates to the digital compass/mag- netic-field sensor, which can be slow to orient itself and is affected by users' proximity to electronics or steel structures. Again, higher-grade hardware can be purchased for portable devices. Worried about Image? There's also an issue with the current requirement to hold a mobile device aloft to "see" what's around—not only do you look a touch silly, but your arms start to ache after a few minutes. An area of increased Internet chatter lately has been on "AR glasses." To address concerns of user percep- tion and hands-free working, AR glasses combine all the aforementioned hardware into a wearable device. With sophisticated imaging technology to provide a semi-transparent digital overlay of the world around you, these won't be like wearing a PC mounted on your head. Instead, imagine being able to select overlays such as airplane flight trajectories, the fastest route to work, street and building names, or the names of various flora and fauna within a park—all via speech, gesture recog- nition or touch interfaces. With the right software and enough battery power, this is Internet (and GIS) informa- tion in a heads-up, context-aware device. Some say this ability is years away, and getting it spot-on may be, but blogs were alive in February 2012 with "Project Glass," Google's AR eyeglasses to be released later in the year. And Sony's prototype full- color glasses have excellent display quality, although a little small. These should be available in 2013, but monochrome versions already are available. Google introduced augmented-reality glasses, dubbed Project Glass. Undoubtedly, many issues will arise from such tech- nology, including public privacy, targeted advertising, content management, and health and safety concerns. But in terms of a medium that aids daily lives, these opportunities and technologies can't be ignored as science fiction. An Unknown Future Where AR technology evolves still is unknown, but as a tool to do a job, AR has several benefits over traditional GIS solutions, in the same way a laptop compares to a desktop. There's a way to go toward a mature market, and there are limitations with cur- rent hardware, but new enabling technologies are only months away. As with all emerging technologies, the road to improvement and a lower price point is through wider adoption, but what's also required is a variety of solid, practical use cases. As an industry, geotechnology professionals and content owners have a lot to offer the AR community. They should start thinking about how their data can be used to augment everyone's world as well as how AR can deliver benefits to theirs. Mike Reynolds is CEO of Augmented Technologies Ltd.; e-mail: mike.reynolds@aug-tech.co.uk, Web: www.augmented-technologies.co.uk. JUNE 2O12 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . COM 21