AR interfacing with prototype 3D applications based on user-centered interactivity

Augmented Reality (AR) has been acclaimed as one of the promising technologies for advancing future UbiComp (Ubiquitous Computing) environments. Despite a myriad of AR applications and its influence on the human–computer interaction field, end products that integrate AR are less commonplace than expected. This is due to a lack of being able to forecast in which direction mainstream standardization of AR-oriented platform components will be framed. It is mainly due to a focus on technology issues in implementing reasonable AR solutions, which also results in difficulty in initiating AR research and creating prototype test-beds. Thus, this paper provides a comprehensive review of AR prototyping trends and AR research activities. Through the technical review of a de facto AR prototyping method, we remark upon the key elements of AR techniques, and then present an alternative view of the AR environment centered on end-user advantages in interaction, which is characterized by three features: intuitive observation, informative visualization, and immersive interaction. In addition, we believe that these features can be used to motivate the integration of AR technology into custom-built 3D applications. In this paper, we propose a conceptual schema and an architectural framework for generic AR prototyping. On the basis of these, a video see-through AR interface is integrated into three prototype 3D applications in 3 different domains: engineering systems, geospace, and multimedia. As the case studies for validating our integration, we present three sample AR applications; (a) an AR-interfaced 3D CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) simulation test-bed, (b) a two-stage distributed Traveler Guidance Service (TGS) test-bed based on a GIS database and AR, and (c) a haptically-enhanced broadcasting test-bed for AR-based 3D media production. For each application, a description of the test-bed implementation, demonstration of the feasibility and usefulness and AR-specific technical challenges are included in this paper. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.