Information Madness

Remember one of those Sci-Fi movies where you see those high tech gadgets. Its not that dreamy and filmy anymore. If you have Android Phone and are in USA, you can amaze your guests by taking them on a drive with this Android application called Wikitude Drive, the worlds first fully functional mobile AR navigation system with global coverage (for Android 1.6 and above). It is a light weight turn-by-turn navigation system that uses Augmented Reality.

The system works by attaching your mobile phone on top of your dash board looking at the road. The application then overlays video captured through the camera with driving instructions. This allows users to literally drive through their phone, watching the road even while they are looking at directions.

With just one tap on the cell phone’s touch screen, you can switch between the Augmented Reality view and the traditional 3D map-view. To give you additional navigational directions, voice commands are provided as well.

Navigational data comes from Navteq, a global supplier of mapping and routing information. A future version of Wikitude Drive will integrate with Wikitude World Browser to offer millions of Points of Interests to leverage the full power of the Internet and user generated content.

Wikitude Drive is scheduled to launch in June 2010. Check out the video below that shows what Augmented Reality Navigation is all about...