Kristian Kalsing

There are constantly many new concepts emerging from the fast pace of technology innovation and development. Many ideas come and go or only have a limited impact, but sometimes you come across something you think could really have a disruptive effect on our lives. Augmented reality browsing is one of those new concepts that has an enormous potential.

Many of us are already using our mobiles to look up information on the go. Whether that be searching for the closest pizza joint on Google Maps, checking the bus times or using Wikipedia to shoot down that amazing story your mate just told at the pub. But it is a bit fiddly on a mobile and we would access information on the web much more often if there was an easier way.

That easier way could be augmented reality browsing which is made possible by a number of technology improvements. I have for quite some time had high expectations of what could come out of three converging trends:

• More mobile capabilities. The mobile revolution has been going on for a while now, but we are now seeing more and more people with mobile devices that have Internet access and a good data plan to go with it.
• More Location-based services. An increasing number of mobile applications are starting to leverage the fact that many devices know where they are, either through GPS or cellular triangulation.
• More real-time information. With all these Internet-enabled mobile devices out there, it is easier than ever for people to submit real-time information whether that is posting to Twitter, sharing photos or uploading videos.

Augmented reality browsing is a perfect example of a concept that leverages these three converging trends. An augmented reality browser shows what is around you by displaying real-time information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone. The best way to get an idea of the concept is to watch the video below showing a prototype developed by Layar:

Imagine that. Rather than browsing to various websites and keying in search terms, all you need to do is hold your mobile phone in front of you like a camera and any information will only be a touch away on the screen. You could be walking along wanting to find out what year that bridge across the river was built, if the house on the right is for sale and how much it is listed for or what people are saying right now about the food at the restaurant across the street.

It is easy to imagine the potential of this for travelling. It would help you to dicsover secrets you would otherwise have missed. Just let your phone probe the surrounds, touch to retrieve the details and you have instant answers. Cool stuff, but we really need a catchier name than augmented reality browser!

Related posts:

1. Internet-enabled cameras are coming
2. Summary of TIME’s cover story about Twitter

Kristian Kalsing Life 2.0, Travel 2.0