Augmented Reality & Escaping the Gimmicksphere

Three years ago, we went to see a demonstration of Magic Symbol, an application of augmented reality technology from Inition. Using specially designed codes on a 2D surface, cameras were able to motion track them and display 3D designs in realtime on a monitor nearby.

The technology has managed to persist in live exhibitions, appearing as an add-on to DVDs and magazines, and more excitingly, in the flourishing mobile phone application space.

However, despite years of serious development and now wider adoption by content providers and consumers alike, it has yet to emerge from the gimmicksphere. This week, Channel 4 reminds us of a similar technology that once had mass appeal and went away for decades for its lack of persistent usability.

For a brief period in the 1950s, 3D was a huge pull to the cinemas, helping to deflect mass exodus to the increasingly ubiquitous television set in every home. The channel has partnered with Sainsbury’s to distribute free 3D glasses to enjoy the retro kitsch experience of watching classics shot in the format.

Images will once again leap out of the screen, but only if seen through the cumbersome lenses of a pair of cardboard glasses that you have to source out of your own initiative down the shops. This, of course, was the seemingly minor hindrance that spelled the end of 3D for the next 60 years.

What the two technologies have in common is that they are both experiential, but risk being completely sidelined if they don’t prove an irresistible usefulness. As the Magic Symbol website unwittingly admits, the technology has far more “features” than useful applications. The onus to find uses for it is on us; the last point reads, “only limited by your imagination…”

There is far more promise and usefulness on the mobile front, with evermore widely adopted smartphones that have apps which makes use of their cameras to overlay relevant, geospecific data. Raise your device to the horizon and local restaurants, Tube stations and encyclopedic data appear to help you make better sense of your surroundings. Suddenly, the world around you, on the go, is enhanced by technological aid, helping to merge the physical and the digital.

However, walking down the street with your phone held up to the horizon is an awkward experience – much like wearing 3D glasses to enjoy the cinema or television. It’s good for the occasional bit of showing-off to your peers or the very limited occasions when it truly enhances an experience, but mostly, it is not fit for purpose.

Despite the explosion of powerful handheld devices, they still only possess about a tenth of the computing power of your average desktop, and many are falling through the gap between. Many developers seem to be biting off more than they can chew in terms of functionality, or putting all their effort into design at the expense of it.

It reminds us quite a bit of how