itacitus | Austin James Hurwitz

Well, there are no shortages of players in mobile augmented reality that are focused on browsing and searching data associated with nearby points or persons of interest. As I’ve posted previously, I believe that augmenting landscapes with third-party data is just a small sampling of the added value that this technology will provide for major entertainment (sports and more) and shopping venues in the near future.

My enthusiasm for this subject is tempered, however, in these respects: I do NOT believe that consumer adoption and behaviors with compatible smart phone devices in the US will allow these solutions to be successful for quite some time in larger, open spaces. Contributing factors include the lack of community size and activity, as well as limited valuable data, currently provided by current applications.

Here’s one exception, which some seem to be banking on: Tourism. But how often are we tourists versus ticket holders or shoppers? Further, being a tourist naturally implies that we won’t be there for long, and it’s not as likely that we will return (at least, not for a long time). And when we are tourists, do we always think of ourselves like that—to the point, would we know to use our phone like that and what areas would be covered?

I have posted examples in past posts, but here is a handful from the last month: Yelp Monocle (Site / Video), Metro Paris Subway (Site / Video), Acrossair AR Browser (Site / Video), Soundwalk with Layar (Site / Video), Graffitigeo (Site / Video), Gamaray TweetWorld (Site / Video), CrashCorp (Site / Video). But what if we started with more enclosed, social, entertaining, and shopping ecosystems in our towns?

One example from iTacitus, which I have given post real estate for its video below, does have an interesting historical element.—Imagine walking around a ballpark that has been rebuilt or renovated over the years, for instance and being able to allow spectators to see how it used to look or what happened in particular areas at times in the past.—And for another alternative to browsing and searching locations, the Hilton Hotels-Disney World Notecast looks like an interesting option for getting a venue’s points of interest in the hands of ticket holders.

Separately, while I’ve posted about electronic ink before, I’ve included some other interesting ways to make print (e.g., programs) and merchandise come alive. Likewise, my interest in interactive projection and other ways of getting spectators into the game, inside, on, and just outside of venue walls continues this month.

Augmenting Cultural Heritage and Notecasting

iTacitus