What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality is an umbrella term that refers to the visual and auditory layering or enhancing of the surrounding environment by adding information. This can include smartphones using GPS, magnetometers, and cameras to recognize objects in the environment and add information, such as pulling up reviews for the restaurant in front of you. Another variation of Augmented Reality uses a symbol, which acts as a visual marker for targeting and layering digital images and animation on to physical objects. When the AR symbol is recognized by a webcam or certain smartphones, a three-dimensional model appears and interacts with the viewer based on the physical location and movement of the symbol. The Augmented Reality application above is an example of this second type, where a 2D printed symbol is used to call digital information and place it in 3D space
What Does Augmented Reality Have To Do With D-Build?
Augmented Reality is a way of connecting complex, interactive, spatially dynamic digital content to physical world objects. This has potential well beyond that of parlor tricks, allowing users to access and view information in ways never before possible. In the application above, the house is built using photos of a real house that is slated to be deconstructed in the city of Syracuse. Around it swirl a cloud of the connections that the building will make when it is deconstructed. These range from community groups, furniture makers, deconstruction companies, technology think tanks, green building companies, and many more. This one house has the potential to touch hundreds, if not thousands of people, and Augmented Reality is a tool that can communicate that in a manner much more powerful than other, traditional means. And this is just the beginning. D-Build hopes to show just how powerful a tool Augmented Reality will become in the future.