Open Media Web

Last month’s Augmented Reality on the Web workshop in Barcelona has sparked a good deal of debate within and around W3C. As the final report shows, the workshop brought together many different companies and organizations working on or with a direct interest in the field of Augmented Reality – but how can W3C help in this area?

One outcome is clear: we need a method for representing data about points of interest and proposals are advancing to achieve this in a new POI Working Group. Quite what data needs to be represented concerning Points of Interest depends on who you ask. For some it’s a question of annotating a given point on the Earth’s surface where the longitude, latitude and altitude are all key identifiers. For others it’s more a question of the point at a given distance and angle from an object that may or may not be static as seen by an observer who may themselves also be moving.

Different communities are involved here: as well as the augmented reality community, the linked data community has a keen interest. There are other facets to the discussion too and this is what will make the POI working group’s work interesting!

The workshop also recommended that a new POI WG should go further and consider the wider picture of how AR does, or might, relate to the Web. Privacy is a major concern; device APIs are critical enablers; do CSS and SVG have sufficient power to support AR functions? Even the use of HTTP as a transport mechanism is questioned by some given the real time nature of AR.

To join the debate about all this, please subscribe to the Point of Interest mailing list and keep an eye out for calls for review of the charter in the near future.

I’m really excited about the the W3C Workshop: Augmented Reality on the Web, taking place next Tuesday and Wednesday, 15 – 16th June as part of the OMWeb project. Excited for the obvious reasons: we’ve had some great papers, we have a great line up of speakers, 4 really interesting sessions and plenty of room for discussion — but excited too because the timing looks perfect.

There was a big and successful event in Santa Clara right at the beginning of the month. Next week’s workshop will include a report from there and it’s clear that W3C’s interest in this space was noted and welcomed. In the short space of time since then, several folks who attended that event have decided to join us in Barcelona.

Also, just this week, we saw the launch of the iPhone 4 that includes – yes – new features designed to support Augmented Reality including enhanced image tracking and full access to live data from the camera. Access to device features through common APIs are something that developers wishing to work cross-platform will depend on and that, naturally enough, W3C is working on!

We also need common ways of exposing and mixing relevant data with that camera information. At least two attempts have been made in this area and the blossoming linked data movement has an enormous amount to offer here too. All will be covered in the Barcelona workshop.

As with any cutting edge technology, the advances have been made largely in research establishments. The workshop will include presentations of exciting work being done to improve and extend the ways in which reality can be augmented, and the use cases to which the technology can be put. The workshop includes papers and talks from several researchers covering text, image and audio augmentation. Finally, as if further evidence were needed of AR’s growing relevance and importance, the workshop will include several demos and talks from companies building commercial businesses using AR.

Why Barcelona? Because mobile is key to the mass deployment of AR so the event is co-located with Mobile 2.0. Discount registration for that event is available for dotOpen members and you can sign up for that for free!

W3C workshops are often the starting point for future standards work and that is a very real possibility here. Although many of the features needed to build Augmented Reality applications are available on the Web and in the browsers with which we are most familiar, key elements are missing from the Web technology stack. Should those elements be added? And if they were, is the Web the right platform for the kind of applications that current practitioners are building and that are proving successful?

I can’t answer those questions today – ask me again in a week’s time.

Phil Archer

OMWeb is pleased to announce this upcoming workshop:

“Augmented Reality on the Web”
15-16 June 2010 — Barcelona, Spain
http://www.w3.org/2010/04/W3C-augmented-reality-workshop-omweb.htm

The Workshop is supported by W3C and the European Union’s  OMWeb Project.

The workshop will take place at the Barcelona Tech University (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) and is co-located with the Mobile 2.0 conference that takes place on the following day (17 June).

Summary:
Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a real-world environment whose elements are supplemented with, or augmented by computer generated imagery.  AR is a long standing topic in its own right but it has not been developed on the Web platform.  As mobile devices become more powerful and feature-rich, the workshop will explore the possible convergence of AR and the Web.

The objective of this W3C workshop on Augmented Reality on the Web is to provide a single forum for researchers and technologists to discuss the state of the art for AR on the Web, particularly the mobile platform, and what role standardization should play for Open Augmented Reality.

Important dates:
* From today: Send expression of interest
* 29 May: Deadline for position papers
* 7 June: Acceptance notification and registration instructions sent
* 15-16 June: Workshop

More information is available in the Call for Participation.