CTAR Augmented Reality Chicago Transit Authority CTA iOS app

Augmented Reality Mobile Apps

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Twitter: @akucharski

About Promet

Mission Statement: “Promet Solutions specializes in developing innovative, complex web applications with open source technology.”

30+ solutions architects

worldwide• Offices in the US

•Chicago• San Jose

10th year in business

32 open source contributions

10+ mobile apps in the past 12 months

About Promet

• Founded in 2003• 2008 focus on Drupal CMS• 2009 Mobile development

What is Augmented Reality?

• AR is a digital overlay of information over a live camera view of the real world• Enhances reality with digital information about the images that appear

on the screen

• AR is frequently used due to the development of camera recognition software• Glasses

• Virtual retina displays

• Camera phones

Augmented Reality Market

• Total value of AR mobile market in 2009 was $130,000

• AR capable smartphones increased from 8 million in 2009 to more than 100 million in 2010

• Late 2010 saw exponential growth from 2009 • Value in 2010 was $1.5 million

• Forecasts for 2015 expect $1.5 billion

• In the next five years expected to grow

at an average of 239% per year

Augmented Reality Applications Published by Month

Augmented Reality Applications Published by Category

Augmented Reality Classification

History of Augmented Reality

• One of the first augmented reality systems was created in 1992• Virtual Fixtures was developed at the U.S. Air Force Research

laboratory

• First Augmented Reality mobile device debuted in 2008• Wikitude AR Travel Guide launched on the T-Mobile G1 Android phone

• Video games featured Augmented Reality cards to play with the device camera• Nintendo 3DS and Playstation Vita feature this application

• Recently gained popularity in smart phones

Phone Requirements

• A way to determine location • Phone provides that through GPS and an internal compass

• iPhone has gyroscopes

• A method of downloading data • Provided through mobile broadband connection

• Powerful graphics processing capabilities• Camera phone in the case of smartphones

• A processor and display

Dataset Requirements

• Location-based• Data points need to be tied to a specific location

• User interest in daily life• Needs to be a data set that users would be interested in looking up

• Publicly available data• Or privately held data that can be shared with Promet

• Data needs to be accessible online

Outlook on Augmented Reality

• Analysts predict every smart phone will feature an augmented reality application by 2014

• Augmented Reality can generate $1.5 billion by 2015• Other analysts predict $5.1 billion by 2016

• Future developments: using cloud data to enhance the information in AR

• Expected to rise from 0.1% of the market to 1.0% of the market in the next five years

Augmented Reality Capabilities

• Public Transportation • Tracking the nearest train and buses and the frequency they are coming in

• College Campus Tours• Allow users to point their phones at campus buildings and conduct a self-guided

tour

• Museum Guides• Allow users to gain background information about a piece of art by pointing your

phone

• Restaurant Guides• Find the best restaurants and ratings nearby

• Real Estate• Look at houses that are sale in a neighborhood with your mobile phone

Augmented Reality Capabilities

• Architecture Tours• Learn about the history of each building by merely pointing your phone

• Commercial Tourism• Explore a city’s most famous attractions with your phone

• Meetups/Conferences• Find the nearest conference in a city block

• Concerts• Check out the concerts in your neighborhood by pointing your phone

Case Study: Augmented Reality and CTAR

Challenge

• Needed a way to consolidate CTA info and display it in relation to its surroundings

• Augmented Reality software was traditionally used in video games

• Had to account for over 30,000 bus stops, as well as train lines

• Needed to show whether the bus of train was Northbound or Southbound

Case Study: Augmented Reality and CTAR

Approach

• Used program to determine coordinates and orientation of phone

• App uses floating point arithmetic to compare the location of the user with the location of each bus stop

• Separated bus and train information into separate tables to prevent slowdowns

Case Study: Augmented Reality and CTAR

Results

• Each stop box displays:• Distance to the station

• Station's name

• Color of lines passing through

• ETAs of trains in all directions

• App allows you to tap whichever line you are interested in within a station

Case Study: Augmented Reality and CTAR

How the CTAR works

• CTAR uses the GPS and Compass to provide and accurate location of the phone and where it is pointed

• Accelerometer used to determine whether the phone is tilted at a specific angle

• CTAR downloads location and arrival times from Chicago Transit Authority in real time

• Needs to sort through data tables to retrieve names, id and geo-coordinates

• Displays the nearest stop and arrival time

Questions?www.prometsource.com

[email protected]

Twitter: @akucharski

@PROMETSOURCE