Augmented Reality: Swiss Start-Up Challenges Google Goggles

Walking around with your phone displaying information to the locations you pass by: That’s Augmented Reality and that could be the future in our digital age.

Now, in Switzerland the Japanese are among our favorite tourist. They’re always so friendly, pass by like a gust of wind (usually they pass trough Switzerland in a day), and are always so happy if we take a picture with them. Just have to love them. Now, one thing they usually have in common (just to take up an old cliché), the Japanese run around taking pictures of everything.

Now, with the new innovation in Augmented Reality, tourist locations could be hit by a new tourist picture: Hordes of tourists walking around with their iPhones in front of their faces. The Augmented Reality can display information to several sites directly in the phones display. The Swiss start-up has created such an application. kooaba notes the features in their blog:

• Stationary objects such as buildings are augmented, as well as objects which can be anywhere on the world (books and other products). This is not possible with GPS-based Augmented Reality
• The labels really stick to the objects. This is also only possible with visual tracking, impossible with sensors
• We recognize millions of objects in near real-time. This includes buildings, books, CDs, DVDs, newspapers and magazines

Google goggles is getting some competition there!

What could this mean for the future?

Now, I like to fantasize. With a connection to other social services such as Facebook, you could see where your friends are, what your friends liked, what your friends did at that place, what your friends drank (let’s say Starbucks) and what coffee they liked. Which pictures were taken at that place, what historical events took place. Ahh anything.

Also I bet the digital goggle or glasses will come soon (Don’t believe it? They already exist!  Take a look at the super-duper skiing goggle displaying speed, altitude, temperature, time, gps, playlists, ect. ect.) displaying anything directly in your eye.

A new digital tour guide will be born.