Augmented Reality iPhone Apps
‘Wow, so this is what the future looks like!’ That’s what I thought when I first checked out the video demo of the Nearest Tube App for the iPhone 3GS.
Nearest Tube is the (soon to be) first augmented reality app to go live on the App Store. Augmented reality is when real world data is intermixed with digital data.
In this case, Nearest Tube uses the video camera viewer, compass and GPS on the iPhone 3GS and overlays the location and distance to the London Tube entrances. The effect is very cool and useful.
I can really see this way to display map data taking off. Most maps use a birds-eye view to give direction but we don’t live in that view. Street level viewing in Google is cool but not that useful for finding your way around live.
Seeing map data appear on top of live video that you control could be very useful. Imagine pointing your iPhone at a store and seeing a pop-up that shows hours of operation, address, their menu, etc.
Hopefully Google is hard at work at providing tools like these for Google Maps.
