Is this the year that Augmented Reality will really take off?

Made Essential Reading on 20 January 2010 Lee Lomas

Many of those in the know are expecting this to be the year that the Augmented Reality technology will fly. What is it? A piece of software designed for specific handsets which can overlay information and tags on live images streamed through a device’s camera lens.

So what can it do for you? Well, at the minute it can possibly stream an image of the street scene in front of you and overlay a direction sign to your favourite coffee shop. Fun but frivolous (unless you are a serious coffee addict like certain friends of mine!). But think of the possibilities for engineers out in the field looking at complex components and being able to have specific notes or guidance displayed on screen, live. More than that, their handset and software could confirm that they have the required parts available with them and immediately notify a central location of what they had used so that their van is re-stocked on its return.

And who will be the first to produce a pair of glasses that will do away with the need to look at a screen and will just display the tags over the real image that you are looking at? Then you are free to use two hands to perform complex operations while receiving tags and instructions.

Mission Impossible comes to the man in the street.