Discover Anywhere Mobile, a Toronto-based mobile travel guide publishing startup, announced today that it has completed an iPhone app with Augmented Reality (AR) views of subway, light rail, train and airport data for 33 cities throughout North America. That app will be made available as soon as the next version of the iPhone Operating System is launched to the public.
Discover Anywhere’s implementation of AR looks well-suited to the needs of users, but we asked company President David Janes why users would need an AR view at all. Why wouldn’t a list of nearby transit stops and a map be enough. Janes offered an interesting explanation of Augmented Reality’s value.
The AR view in Discover Anywhere’s app is just one of three, map and list views are also available for all data sets.
“In my mind, AR is a feature rather than a product,” Janes told us. “It’s something that we think would be useful for our customers. For example, I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago and walked out of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) downtown. Even knowing that the MARTA existed would have been useful then – but when we got out it would be great to be able to orient yourself toward landmarks. It’s the ‘oh yeah, there it is’ experience.”
That makes sense. The integration of an Augmented Reality view with more traditional lists and maps seems likely to make orienting yourself all the easier.
IPhone 3Gs owners will be able to make up their own minds on the finer points of Augmented Reality User Experience as soon as the next, AR supporting, OS is rolled out. We had expected that to occur as early as next month, but now it’s looking like the wait may be a little bit longer.
