Mixed reality for exploring urban environments

In this paper we propose the use of specific mobile system architecture for navigation in urban environments. The aim of this work is to evaluate how virtual and augmented reality interfaces can provide location and orientation-based services using different technologies. The virtual reality interface is entirely based on sensors to detect the location and orientation of the user while the augmented reality interface uses computer vision techniques to capture patterns from the real environment. The knowledge obtained from the evaluation of the virtual reality experience has been incorporated into the augmented reality interface. Some initial results in our experimental augmented reality navigation are presented.