Tag: augmented reality

Some predictions are saying that by the year 2018, AR technology applications will be worth investments of $2.5 billion.

According to a recent market forecast issued by ABI Research, by the year 2018, developers will be making investments of more than $2.5 billion in augmented reality apps, particularly in the marketing and retail spaces.

The researchers said that there would already be $670 million invested in that sector by the end of this year.

ABI explained that there are four primary drivers that will be defining to the augmented reality market over the next half decade. They include the combination of the technology with cloud computing, a direction toward a decrease in marker AR that is vision based, “sensor fusion” and the Internet of Everything, and smart eyewear product advances.

They identified the primary growth driver for augmented reality as being cloud computing.

According to the ABI report, cloud computing is “becoming more crucial, as well as immediate, than what has been concluded in earlier research.” ABI senior analyst, Aapo Markkanen, said that “The cloud is a natural fit for AR developers, considering how big benefits cloud-based content libraries present for image recognition technologies.”

At the moment, the biggest SDKs (software development kids) are from Metaio, based in Germany, and from Vuforia, of Qualcomm. Last year, both of these SDKs brought in cloud recognition. Moreover, the visual browser from HP called Aurasma has always had cloud at its heart. That last option – according to Markkanen – is building a considerable amount of traction as a third party app platform.

ABI explained that augmented reality will play an important role in the enabling of the Internet of Everything, particularly in the area of big data analytics; where AR and data visualizations are brought together through the use of wearable computing devices.

ABI practice director, Dan Shey, predicted that in augmented reality will “serve as a visualization medium that will make the sensor data situational, bridged to the real world surroundings,” in an environment where there will already be a tremendous number of structures and physical objects linked by sensors. He predicts that smart eyewear will be an important part of this.

Developers from the company have now revealed the latest AR tech for cars instead of mobile gaming.

Though augmented reality is rapidly finding its place in areas such as mobile marketing, gaming, and other forms of entertainment, Pioneer has just unveiled a display that uses the technology which would be used in vehicles.

This technology mounts an LCD screen right onto the dash of a vehicle, where its navigation and stereo are traditionally located.

The augmented reality technology also uses a camera that would be located behind the vehicle’s rearview mirror. This allows an augmented reality effect to be created, where an image is projected onto the windshield overtop of the actual view.

This augmented reality display also relies on lasers to create “floating” images over the real view.

The images look as though they are floating a few feet in front of the vehicle’s position, even though they are actually simply projected onto the windshield’s screen. This trick gives the viewer the feeling that they are seeing graphics that are outside the vehicle, even though they are simply projections on screens above, where the sun visors would typically be positioned.

This trick is not only interesting and fascinating to many, Pioneer is saying that the augmented reality may actually help the driver in his or her experience behind the wheel. The display provides a great deal of information that all moves and interacts with the view of the road through the windshield. Arrows displayed on the screen help to make use of GPS guidance in order to lead a driver to his or her destination.

Furthermore, small balloons help to identify important areas that are approaching in the distance, such as restaurants, gas stations, and other locations. The camera can even allow the augmented reality technology to reinforce various other forms of information already visible, such as stop signs, traffic lights, yield signs and various other important forms of signage. The technology helps to provide these alerts in real time along with the view of what can actually be seen through the front window of the vehicle as it moves.