The most prominent national environmentally-aligned political party in the world, the German Green Party, saw its Berlin chapter announce a groundbreaking mobile app today that allows supporters to discuss environmental issues around the city and brings party billboards to life using Augmented Reality. I think it’s pretty cool.
The mobile app allows users to create, view as overlays on their mobile camera viewer and discuss Points of Interest regarding environmental problems and solutions around the city. The app can also be pointed at Green Party billboards, which will trigger the launch of a mobile video message from party candidates discussing the issues depicted on the billboards, but in greater depth. Check out the videos below, I think this is one of the coolest uses of Augmented Reality I’ve seen yet.
The app is powered by the platform of German and US based Metaio, probably the biggest Augmented Reality company in the world. It will be available on Monday.
Isn’t this the kind of thing we always imagined AR doing? Metaio says that Augmented Reality has been discussed most widely of late within a utilitarian context, for use in “industry uses, such as improving mechanical safety inspections, interactive training procedures, mobile instruction manuals, and assembly-line safety.” The company points to additional examples of adoption in art and now politics as well, though.