Eye Tracking: Augmented Reality Apps for the iPhone

A few weeks ago, engineers and scientists gathered in the French Alps at a ski resort by the name of Megeve for the inaugural Augmented Human International Conference, a meeting of the minds to unveil cutting edge technology and research in the world of augmented reality.

Augmented reality, as you may know, is a term that’s applied to a view of the real world augmented with virtual computer-generated imagery. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator, for example, was equipped with an augmented reality “heads-up display”, which offered information on his surroundings, various measurements, and threat identification.

Here at Eye Tracking Update, we come across an awful lot of “Best Of” and “Top Ten” posts, especially when it comes to iPhone apps. But in light of the success of the European conference, perhaps it’s a good time to list a few augmented reality-type applications for the iPhone.

Mashable.com featured their selection of ten “Amazing Augmented Reality iPhone Apps,” and there were certainly some memorable ones.

Of course, who doesn’t need an app that lets you shoot lasers at friends through your camera? In iPew, all you have to do is open the camera app and take aim with a laser gun image overlay. Point it straight at your buddy and watch tiny lasers fire, virtually frying your friends.

Worksnug, a corporate-backed app by Plantronics, is an iPhone app that locates Wi-Fi hotspots and potential places to get a bit of computer work done. Coffee shops to professional rent-a-desk office spaces are mixed with user reviews that rate by atmosphere, noise, and, yes, quality of coffee. The display shows the real view scene before you with pop ups displaying titles, addresses, and relevant information about the various coffee shops, etc. Looks like a good app for someone on the go, and with many people able to work from any location, it could definitely be a cool thing.

Another interesting app is Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy. When I was younger I had a star map t-shirt that was printed upside down and glowed in the dark. You could lay on your back under the stars, and reference the constellations you saw against the t-shirt, making sure Orion and Ursa Major were in the right place. But this new iPhone app makes celestial followings even easier, spelling out the stars, planets and constellations for you. The app boasts data on 10,000 stars, 88 constellations and lunar phases. There’s a “tonight’s sky” feature that shows meteor showers and visible planets above, with, we assume, superimposed heads-up displays providing all the information you need on Mars, Jupiter, and Pluto.

Another cool app is AugMeasure, which basically turns your iPhone into a ruler, letting you gauge short distances on your iPhone’s camera as you run it over a distance. On screen there’s a display showing distance overlaid onto the live image you see through your camera. As you move, the numbers move, measuring up to 30 centimeters or 12 inches. Very handy.

Finally, Theodolite is another augmented reality app worth mentioning here. This app overlays topographical data again over your camera’s image, showing your axis, altitude, direction, and bearing. The handy little app provides both the curious weekend warrior and the experienced trekker with geo and topo readings, all of which are meant to keep you on course, or happily off the trail.

Eye-tracking tools that boost reality