[Austria] Mobilizy, the company from Salzburg, that brought us one of the world’s first Augmented Reality browsers, Wikitude, just released a major upgrade which crosses that significant line between technology and its effects in the ‘real’ world. Their idea was to build a virtual memorial in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. and the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. The result will be the ability to point their Android and iPhone application at the place where the World Trade Center once stood and witness a 3D rendering of the Twin Towers, once more.
This may well appear at first to be an unwise, and possibly disrespectful, idea. However, Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis, one of Wikitude’s founders, was actually in New York during the attacks. He says the idea of reviving the World Trade Center within the Wikitude World Browser 3D was a personal one. He obviously feels it’s going to be received as a respectful remembrance, not as a slight on the memory of those who died.
The effect was made possible by upgrading Wikitude’s Android App to 3D and it’s newly released iPhone app, out today (here from iTunes in the US only). From now on anyone in New York, using an AR enabled mobile phone, has the ability to see a virtual World Trade Center through the phone’s display. Wikitude demo shows how a “Memorial of light” at Ground Zero could be the next-generation of ‘virtual’ memorials. View a full video demonstration of this after the jump.
Wikitude Augmented Reality: WTC – Its not there but its there from Wikitude on Vimeo.
Layar, another AR player, released it’s 3D browser a couple of weeks ago, providing basically the same functionality as Wikitude, though it is not yet on the iPhone. There are only a handful of AR apps for the iPhone right now, such as Bionic Eye.
Like Wikitude, Layar also provides an API that could enable others to build applications like this, but geo-tagging within apps – enabling a memorial like the one above – is not fully possible with Layar’s technology as yet.
The Wikitude iPhone app, featuring overlays from from Wikipedia, Qype and Tripwolf, is available in the US store but it is not available in all stores yet – including Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Swiss and the UK. Apple remains somewhat insecure about AR Apps.
Wow. Very impressive!
The Wikitude guys keep doing innovative things. I love this feature and will check it out next week!
the video is amazing! A huge step forward in integrating 3D objects in AR apps. Congratulations Mobilizy, very well done!
what a pity the 3d feature doesn’t work on the iphone yet! try to check it out on an android.
What a load of bulls**t.
How much investment (time, resource & cash) went into developing this?
A brilliant example of how developers just wonder off developing stuff that has ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE.
Social media is the most powerful development on the web/mobile to date…..but also the most disruptive to business when people spend shit loads of man hours developing stuff like this cos its “cool”.
Can ANYONE suggest ONE, just ONE, piece of value someone can extract from this?
Historical value for generations hence to learn about New York.
I agree with Wesley. AR is starting to move from a cool gadget to something that actually can be used. Not just by tech freaks. By schools, students, traveller, anybody. By then people will not know anymore that this is called “AR”. It will be part of everyday’s live. Congratulations Mobilizy for this brave/giant step.
it’s funny. You see films over the years (many) like Terminator or Robocop and you saw these type of ideas used in special effects. Like inside Robo’s visor.
All you’d need to do is incorporate some of this AR into a HUD in an Ironman body suit and you’re half way there to replicating what was a thought from a director 20yrs ago. 30yrs ago
Harty, do you work for Microsoft or something? Because you don’t seem to understand innovation. How useful was the Wright Brother’s first airplane? Not very useful. It could only fly a few hundred feet at the most, and it couldn’t carry any amount of cargo.
It’s a great app, i think the idea could be used all over the World. Virtual tours of historic cities.
What i don’t like is your demo matter, the WTC. It’s like looking through a dead mans eyes. Very spooky, makes me uneasy.
Other than that, awesome app. Well done.
A
Very nice and touching. Good job, Wikitude team.
ceo
It’s rare when technology is both fascinating and very, very, very moving…
And I remember spending hours in 1986 trying to make a good picture of the Towers.
And now I am crying again… Sob.. Sob.. Sob…
very nice app!
So, guys, when do you give us an “AR periscope” to walk through old ancient rome? Would love to walk through (virtual) forum romanum…
How´s about that?
This sucks: It is (for once) available in the South African App Store BUT I don’t have a 3G S with the required digital compass.. I need to upgrade!!
Thanks for this post!
Why line the shot up behind a tree?
This is augmented reality with an additional ‘realitree’ layer – maybe it’ll catch on?
Another obvious place for this would be the JFK assassination site in Dallas, with an added ability to show animated recreations and not just static objects. One could witness the recreation on location from any angle.
Having been in NYC when the towers fell, A wise friend of mine that had lived their for years remarked that day “they took our mountian range” – meaning that we lost a visual clue that you could see when you walked out of the subway as to where you were in the city. It was comforting to be able to look up and see the towers as a landmark to tell you which way was uptown and downtown. If this app helps impress the scale of what we lost that day, then it is quite appropriate as a tribute.
I like this. Very nice. I look forward to seeing this improve in both texture, speed and detail.
Excellent work, appropriate and tasteful.
mashup* is hosting a ‘Augmented Reality’ event on the 22nd October to discuss, debate and demo all of the above issues.
http://www.mashupevent.com/event/augmented-reality
Great post Lukas, I’d like to invite you to mashup*s next event in London all about Augmented Reality – we will be having lots of demos of AR apps and discussion re commercial and social applications.. See: http://www.mashupevent.com/event/augmented-reality
We’re just getting started people.
totally impressive, thanks for sharing.
Honestly this is pretty cool with the following caveats.
I thought the music was too obviously designed to gouge people’s painful memories.
And the performance on the phone is unacceptable, it would not be enjoyable for longer than 15 seconds at the FPS rate being shown (1 FPS?).
Would be a cool idea if it did more than just the WTC, kind of like an augmented reality, and the FPS needs a massive boost. If the phone doesn’t have the horsepower, only support those that do. Those are flat shaded polys that a 486 could render.
How do i get this app?
What is the method to get this application ? Please help me.