State-of-the-art analysis: Augmented-reality app

The ideas we are discussing at the moment for our project tend to involve the concept of augmented reality. In our case, the parts of augmented reality involved would be imagery and perhaps sound.

Concerning the technical concept of visual enhancement, we can gather the process steps into two phases. Detecting the world, and restoring another. Detecting interest points, optical flow, corners or edges are image processing methods of gathering the data that allow the software algorithm to build a reality out or a certain number of criteria. The second stage restores a real world coordinate system from the obtained data. If we have some information about the scene geometry, then achieving to render a 3D environment is possible.

I thought having an idea of what current augmented-reality applications for smartphones and tablets are capable of can help us embracing a whole set of design possibilities. While researching and browsing through appstores, it appears that most top-10 used augmented-reality app (like Wikitude, Yelp) are related to helping you finding locations or events. Restaurants, pubs, ATMs, concerts, Wikipedia articles related to your surroundings and accommodation. Furthermore, most apps that detect images and build upon that provide childish entertainment like drawing ape faces with face-recognition. The last main alternative is a range of apps like Blippar that work for advertisements: the company decides to give an augmented-reality experience to customers, they contact Blippar that incorporates their advertisement in the recognition database, and build a 3D-animation upon that. Pepsi, Coca-Cola or Maybeline have used it (more about this app).

In the end, image processing and augmented-reality rendering seems underused for specific places such as museums. Some museums like the Cleveland Museum of Art have however experimented an integrated system of experience enhancement using augmented-reality, and iPads!

[...] An iPad 3 app (ArtLens) provides image-recognition access to information and rich media about collection objects, both in Gallery 1 and for highlight objects in the permanent-collection galleries. "ArtLens" serves as both guide and interior locator, via Cisco wireless triangulation, for both predefined tours and a proximity-based recommender service. The app integrates Facebook check-ins and favorites posting. A lobby beacon provides potential visitors with current dashboard-style statistics on most popular objects and tours. [extract from full text @ http://www.mcn.edu/transforming-art-museum-experience-gallery-one-mcn2012gal1]

The app is available on stores, and with full functionalities on iPad. Read more about the ArtLens app and the Gallery One of the museum. If we have access to a tablet we could probably download the app and try it on images of current exhibitions available on the website.

Our feeling that we could improve the children's experience with material they already own seems to closely link to the experimentations led at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Also, the idea of downloading a specific app for an activity or an event is spreading (here a virtual gallery for the yearly Canadian Luminato Festival). The app itself becomes a key element in the experience that enters the familiarity sphere embodied by the smartphone or tablet. Fotografiska could also lend tablets to visitors with no adapted device (the CMA does it for $5).