Augmented Reality is a hot topic in the SEO world, and this session was good for the neophytes in the audience. I would recommend looking into some of these topics on your own though if you're interested, and definitely play around with the free apps that are out there.
The speakers for this session are:
Cindy Krum, Chief Executive Officer, Rank-Mobile, LLC
Mathijs Gajentaan, CEO & Co-founder, Winvolve
Ling Guan, Professor, Canada Research Chair, Ryerson University, Toronto
Cindy Krum, Chief Executive Officer, Rank-Mobile, LLC
Augmented Reality is artificial information that can be stored/retrieved like search, that is overlayed into the real world environment.
We are calling Augmented Reality applications "browsers" and this is appropriate because they browse like web browsers. Since these AR apps are on your phone, they interact with your world where you are at the moment, and is a lot more personal.
Augmented Reality is based on data that is searchable based on tagging, meta data, and GPS. Often times, an AR layer can be pulled into the browser as a feed, like search engine information.
Cindy shows an example of Google Street View.
Next she shows an example of Wikitude World Browser. Wikitude pulls entries in from Wikipedia and overlays that information. [Actually, there are many "worlds" that can be applied to Wikitude, beyond the Wikipedia "world".]
Cindy shows an example of Layar Reality Browser.
Augmented Reality does have a fun gaming component. She talks about a fun worldwide zombie game, and a firefly catching game for kids.
In terms of marketing:
- More interactive experience, which is good for branding
- Closes the loop between online and offline
Biggest potential winners:
- Local shops
- Social networks
- Travel
- Real estate
- Restaurants
- Malls
With Augmented Reality, we can enable offline businesses that aren't really online, to branch into the online space.
Understanding the Possibilities
Mobile marketing and Augmented Reality create the potential for "Reality Mining". Reality mining is a powerful marketing tool, and application behaviour is trackable. You can also access purchase behaviour context, analyze conversion triggers, and understand post-conversion behaviour.
On Twitter: @Suzzicks
Mathijs Gajentaan, CEO & Co-founder, Winvolve
It's case study time, as Mathijs wants to have a more practical session.
We can experience Augmented Reality in 3 places:
1) At home: PC - to get premium content
2) In stores / outdoors: PC - experience
3) On the road: mobile - discovery, navigation, search
Case 1: Bell Canada - AR in Print
We ran a direct mail campaign to people with fast Internet connections, and included an AR trigger/marker. You would go to the Fibe Is On website, and it would tell you to turn on your webcam. The camera recognizes this marker, and superimposes a 3D object on top of that.
The result was that we helped to add value to the end piece (mail), and create a new way to interact with the brand, through print, the AR experience, and web. This also helped to position Bell as an innovative brand.
Case 2: Second Cup - AR in Mobile (Layar)
This application provides a new, innovative way to find Second Cup stores, and is easily updated and works across multiple platforms.
[Disclaimer: Winvolve is a Layar Representing Partner]
Mathijs talks about their partner, Layar. They have been working together since "the beginning", which was about a year ago. He goes into details about Layar.
Layar:
- 2 million installs
- 700+ layers built
- Developer API
- Experience tool, insight, enhancement
- Discover
- Games
- Place virtual objects in space
He provides a source for Layar tools: layar.com/create, then shows Layar screenshots on a mobile device.
Learnings:
- Easy to use
- Easy to update
- People like the experience
- Allows 1000s to "discover" using their phones
Ling Guan, Professor, Canada Research Chair, Ryerson University, Toronto
Ling shows an example of Interactive Protein Manipulation, where we can see protein much larger and zoom in - all in Augmented Reality. He then shows a Multiresolution Terrain Visualization of Lake Tahoe. You can see the terrain of the area and go anywhere.
Applications for Augmented Reality:
- Museums
- Tourism
- Advertising
In the future we might see AR cell phones that can display 3D without 3D glasses, by curving a 2D screen into the third dimension.
Questions / Answers
Q: How can you rank in the App Store?
A (Cindy): App Store pages are being indexed so you can rank those pages in Google. Use keywords. The best time for mobile PPC is when people are not at work.
Q (mine :)): What type of tracking / analytics information can you get from a layer that you create?
A (Mathijs): There's nothing as complex as Google Analytics, but we do get log file information. There may be something open source. [I'm assuming here that the content is stored on Winvolve servers, and the log file information is coming from these servers.]