Augmented Reality fast approaching maturity

Augmented reality, the idea that the physical world can be enhanced through the virtual, is quickly developing and gaining acceptance. Two companies at the forefront of the push for it are Austrian Mobilizy and Dutch SPRXMobile who are currently engaged in competition over their recently released augmented reality browsers. These browsers overlay information supplied by the Internet onto the screens of mobile devices. Using them, one can hold one’s mobile device up to the world around us and see an interactive landscape of relevant, valuable information, such as articles from Wikipedia and restaurant reviews. In the last few days, both companies released API’s for their browsers. This is a huge step forward because, using the API’s, third party companies like CNN and The History Channel can now geotag their archives of data to landmarks and locations. In a move that is seen as a measure to outdo its competitor, Mobilizy also opened to the public and now allows absolutely anyone to add location-based tags to its system. As a result of this competition, augmented reality seems to be heading in the direction of an open environment, which is certainly the right direction.

The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), which created the T-Mobile G1 UI, is also contributing to this field, releasing its Augmented ID concept. Augmented ID is software that uses facial recognition to attach a face to a virtual profile. When someone looks at you through their mobile device, they will see links to social networking sites, picture sharing communities, blogs, and more, as determined by that person. Be sure to watch the video of it in action below. Although this software is still only a concept, the future of how we view other people and interact with our environment is exciting indeed.

source: Mobilizy, SPRXMobile, and TAT, via VentureBeat, Engadget Mobile