Augmented Reality
Augmented reality takes GPS to a new level and is only beginning to grow. Augmented reality apps reveal information about what your camera’s viewer sees. Applications like Layar pull in a variety of layers of data and show you information about the physical world you’re looking at. These layers include restaurant finders, real estate prices, and crime data. The Walt Disney World layer, available for $2, helps people navigate the theme park. Google Goggles, which allows users to search the web with photos, also reveals nearby places that may be hidden to the human eye. Lonely Planet has created augmented reality guides of U.S. cities. With Yelp’s iPhone app, the Monocle feature is an augmented reality app that shows you nearby businesses.
Beyond entertainment, the combination of the camera and GPS also allows for a new kind of civic engagement. Layar includes a layer for Recovery.govthat will show spending from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. While not necessarily augmented reality, applications like SeeClickFix will let you report problems that you see, such as potholes, graffiti, broken signs, etc., simply by taking a picture. The picture and GPS coordinates are uploaded to a site where municipal officials can see problems as they are reported.
There is great potential for applications and services such as SeeClickFix that facilitate civic sharing, which Clay Shirky defines as “groups actively trying to transform and better society” in his new book, “Cognitive Surplus.” Much of the current use of the location-based services lies at the lower end of the spectrum in the realm of personal sharing.
