Augmented Reality in the Beginning

Ahh... so I have decided on researching augmented reality. I plan on attending the Technology on Thursday.  I have spent the past days reading about augmented reality and its impact on education. 

Augmented reality (AR) is the integration of digital information with live video or the user's environment in real time. Basically, AR takes an existing picture and blends new information into it. One of the first commercial applications of AR technology is the yellow first down line in televised football games.

 The key to augmented reality is the software. Augmented reality programs are written in special 3D augmented reality programs such as D'Fusion,  Unifye Viewer or FLARToolKit.  These programs allow the developer to tie animation or contextual digital information in the computer program to an augmented reality "marker" in the real world.

 The end user must download a software application (app) or browser plug-in in order to experience augmented reality. Most AR applications are built in Flash or Shockwave and require a webcam program to deliver the information in the marker to the computer. The marker, which is sometimes called a target, might be a barcode or simple series of geometric shapes. When the computer's AR app or browser plug-in receives the digital information contained in the marker, it begins to execute the code for the augmented reality program.

 
AR applications for smartphones include global positioning system (GPS) to pinpoint the user's location and its compass to detect device orientation. Sophisticated AR programs used by the military for training may include machine vision, object recognition and gesture recognition technologies.

Some of the many actual or potential uses of augmented reality:

• The changing maps behind weather reporters.
• A navigational display embedded in the windshield of a car.
• Visual displays and audio guidance for complex tasks.
• Images of historical recreations integrated with the current environment.
• A display in a pilot's helmet that allows the pilot to, in effect, see through the aircraft.
• Mobile marketing involving product information displayed over that product or its location.
• Video games with digital elements blended into the user's environment.
• Virtually trying on clothes through a webcam while online shopping.
• Displaying information about a tourist attraction by pointing a phone at it.

Boeing researcher Thomas Caudell coined the term augmented reality in 1990, in reference to a head-mounted display Boeing used to guide workers as they put together electrical wiring harnesses for aircraft equipment.

Here are five potential uses of augmented reality in education today.

 Create 3D, augmented reality stories with ZooBurst. ZooBurst is an amazing service that allows you to create a short story complete with 3D augmented reality pop-ups. Students could use ZooBurst to create short summaries of books that really jump off the screen. ZooBurst offers an iPad app to complement the web-based version of the service.

 
The Getty Museum offers a neat way to view art through augmented reality. As employed by The Getty, augmented reality creates 3D displays of art from printed PDF codes displayed in front of a webcam. The example that The Getty provides in the video below is a 3D display of one of the cabinets of curiosities created by Albert Janszoon Vinckenbrinck. If you want to try it for yourself after watching the video, the directions are available here.

 
Fetch! Lunch Rush! is a neat use of augmented reality to create a mathematics lesson for young students. The free iPhone app (it also worked on my iPad 2) was developed by PBS Kids. The purpose of the app is to get kids moving about a room in search of numbers that are the correct answer to the questions posed to them on the app. Students read the arithmetic problem on the app then search out the correct answer. When they think they have found the correct answer they scan it with their iPhones or iPads to find out if they are correct or not.

 
Spacecraft 3D is a free iPad app produced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Spacecraft 3D uses augmented reality technology to bring NASA spacecraft to life on your iPad. To get started using the app you first need to print out the spacecraft target codes. Then your students can scan those target codes with their iPads. The spacecraft then becomes a 3D model that your students can explore.

 Star & Planet Finder enables you to locate the planets and stars in the night sky through your  iPhone or iPad. To use the app, select from a list the planet or constellation you want to locate. Star & Planet Finder will then give you directions to move your iPhone or iPad until you can see through the camera display the planet that you're looking for. The free version of the app only identifies planets. For $.99 each you can add lists of constellations, lists of satellites, and lists of brightest stars to the app.