"Mobilizy GmbH reveals a preview of it's augmented reality navigation system, the first fully functional mobile AR navigation system available for the Android platform. Wikitude Drive was developed by the Mobilizy Research & Development group in Salzburg, Austria, to satisfy the curiosity of the developers to see if it was feasible to combine real-time navigation with mobile augmented reality. The result of this quest is Wikitude Drive, a fully-functional, light weight navigational system which overlays point-to-point directions on a camera-view, without the need for maps. "
Austrian startup, Mobilizy, released a navigation system today as an experiment to see if augmented reality can work with driving directions.The idea of using augmented reality, which superimposes data and information over the real world in a viewfinder, in navigation isn’t new. The military has long used it to guide fighter pilots and identify targets, but GPS-enabled smartphones with accelerometers have finally made commercial applications feasible.Mobilizy’s program, called Wikitude Drive, has map-less navigation and integrated text-to-speech, so a voice will read out where you have to go like other GPS systems. Wikitude Drive tells you how far you are from your destination, how long it will take to get there and it overlays arrows pointing in the direction you need to go. Like other Mobilizy’s other product, the Wikitude augmented reality browser, it only works on Android phones at the moment.As long as the end-user can buy a holder for their phone, it might work. The demo raises one small question: Will people want to walk (or drive around) constantly holding their phones at eye level? The young and very much buzzed-out field of augmented reality may eventually have to come to grips with this user interface issue.Mobilizy is based in Salzburg and is self-funded.
Austrian startup, Mobilizy, released a navigation system today as an experiment to see if augmented reality can work with driving directions.
The idea of using augmented reality, which superimposes data and information over the real world in a viewfinder, in navigation isn’t new. The military has long used it to guide fighter pilots and identify targets, but GPS-enabled smartphones with accelerometers have finally made commercial applications feasible.
Mobilizy’s program, called Wikitude Drive, has map-less navigation and integrated text-to-speech, so a voice will read out where you have to go like other GPS systems. Wikitude Drive tells you how far you are from your destination, how long it will take to get there and it overlays arrows pointing in the direction you need to go. Like other Mobilizy’s other product, the Wikitude augmented reality browser, it only works on Android phones at the moment.
As long as the end-user can buy a holder for their phone, it might work. The demo raises one small question: Will people want to walk (or drive around) constantly holding their phones at eye level? The young and very much buzzed-out field of augmented reality may eventually have to come to grips with this user interface issue.
Mobilizy is based in Salzburg and is self-funded.