Augmented reality - do we need technology to make reality better?

Augmented reality is not a new concept by any means - it has just evolved and is more accessible to the masses. For those of you who drive a Toyota Prius, you will have already experienced the rear view parking camera that helps you identify the correct angle to back into a space by overlaying digital angled lines over the camera view.

This is what augmented reality is - taking what we see through our own eyes and adding a digital layer to enrich our experience or change the way in which we do things.

Is there anything wrong with this? Well no, not essentially, but it does make life far too easy for us. Let's take for example layar, a mobile app that enables you to access a range of AR tools, some of which include a restaurant finder. This works by tracking your exact location via your phone's GPS and then layering digital information through your phones camera. This enables the user to use their phone on the camera to navigate to local restaurants as they are walking along using their camera as a viewfinder. See example below that I have taken from my desk - it shows that the nearest restaurant in that exact direction is a rather nice local Indian.

Don't get me wrong this is really cool, but what ever happened to the old fashioned method of stumbling upon a great restaurant by accident. What about when you are on holiday and you try to find the nearest bureau du change - ok at the time it is annoying having to march the streets to find it without AR or a map, but 2 weeks down the line it will make an amusing holiday anecdote.

In my view I think the technology is incredibly impressive, but I think we need to keep it at arms length to allow us to develop the skills and experiences we require as humans such as navigation and being spontaneous.

However, I have come across one really cool tool that enables you to create your own augmented reality masterpieces - called Auras.

A developer under the name of Aurasma has developed a fantastic app that enables you to add digital layers eg. pictures, moving images or animations to any 2D or static image. I can see a real use for this in enhancing marketing materials. My colleague is currently developing an Aura that enables users to scan an image of a person in our marketing literature, which then comes to life as a talking head to provide more depth to the information provided in print.

I would suggest if you have some spare time, have a play with this app it is truly cool.