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Imagine you're a student about a particular topic in a textbook or class handout and you want to know more than what is presented on the page. You could easily go to your computer and Google the information, but what if you could point your handout at your computer's webcam and immediately be taken to more information directly related to what you're learning about? This faster, easier and interactive way to learn is called "augmented reality." As one of the hottest emerging trends in e-learning, augmented reality is an interactive experience where virtual components are dynamically merged into a live video stream. The main goal of all augmented reality applications is to provide additional information and meaning to a real object or place. This type of design uses real objects and places as the foundation for design and incorporates technologies that add information to expand a person's understanding of the object or place. Augmented reality design can be developed for use in two applications: mobile devices or webcams. While Smartphone mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular amongst consumers, there's still enough of a shortage of hardware to make it difficult to reach wide audiences. In addition, it is still a technology that is evolving every day. Smartphones today are not technologically advanced enough to handle all augmented reality applications being developed. Regardless of which device chosen for the this application, there must be some sort of tracking implemented in the design in order to get the full experience. These applications use either markerless or marker-based tracking. Markerless tracking is most easily used with Smartphones. You can point your phone at a picture and have a feature detection system identify it and provide additional information for the user. With marker-based tracking, a two dimensional barcode is used. When a phone's camera or a webcam is pointed at the barcode, the device recognizes the barcode as a web address and displays the appropriate information. You can also use it with webcams for e-learning applications. It's applications are perfect for elearning because it can provide students with a more meaningful experience by connecting educational content with specific places and objects. Students are more likely to comprehend the course material and remember it later.
Visit Designing Digitally to learn more about augmented reality design and virtual world development. Visit us at http://www.designingdigitally.com to learn more.
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