AR Will Spark the Next Big Tech Platform: Call It Mirrorworld

This product uses an auxiliary GNSS antenna and software to provide centimeter level precision: https://sitevision.trimble.com/

Seems like you could 'debounce' GPS updates where you know it hurts to make changes. Not that different from maps' cheating. But the resolution of GPS and its challenges related to ground clutter will always be a thorn in the side of AR applications like this one.

Then you will be able to triangulate and locate the user quite accurately as long as they are above ground and outside.

And you get this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWbY5jdJnHg (Interestingly, this just came out today)

With the work that Google is doing for in-door-mapping, this might also work indoors as well as underground, I don't know.

But it seems like the location accuracy for location-based AR is being "solved" right now. Unfortunately, the way it's done can only be done by somebody like Google or a company who can afford to collect streetview level data (maybe Apple can afford to do the same here.)

[Edit] Plus, if you're talking about parallel worlds, Google could even use the Streetview data to potentially pre-render the alternate world over the real world and only send the data back the user after they manage to triangulate them. This way they don't need to do that in real-time, reducing the latency of rendering something over the real world structures.

"The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) were of course long understood – and such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess’s undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the Theory of Indeterminacy."

Have you tried turning off the Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain?

GPS positioning does not provide a fixed reference frame, even when it works as advertised, as it assumes some properties of reality are constant that are actually variable. But let's assume that it does provide a fixed reference frame for the sake of argument.

Physical objects are not fixed in any global reference frame. They can move quite a bit throughout the day, exhibiting significant Brownian and regular displacement relative to their mean position. No big deal, we'll just use a local reference frame, like the geometry of buildings and objects, right?

Local geometric relationships we treat as fixed are also quasi-randomized throughout the day. For example, the distance between two buildings can vary by centimeters over a day. With enough measurements you can sort of average out the local noise, but the precision is much worse than people find desirable.

We can't precision measure our way out of this problem because the things we measure don't sit still.

High-precision registration in physical reality is generally believed to be an AI-complete problem. This is a major hurdle for the vision of AR most companies have. You have a huge number of contradictory positioning cues, all of which are constantly changing, from which you need to synthesize a coherent positioning model that matches the one humans naturally perceive.

I'm thinking along the lines of "Want to be a Pokemon gym? Place these devices around your public space and we'll overlay our AR reality while people are there!"

In your specific example, McDonalds might have both copyright and trademark, or even the publicity claims - design of the restaurant, arches and the recognizable nature of the brand all are very unique. Placing BK logos over them would be valuable because it’s McDonalds.

The only entity that has jurisdiction over that particular digital space is the app itself, so they get to make the rules.

Looks like google has started regulating this just from a quick look. I’d expect winners in the AR space to follow a similar trajectory, coming up with rules for this when it becomes a problem.

Should be the same thing, no?

I think this notion, one I identify as an issue of semiotics as much as a technical challenge, is a huge problem / business opportunity. I did a bit of a deep dive on the topic in '15 in this Medium post: https://medium.com/@doctorhandshake/the-map-and-the-territor... ... been meaning to post to HN and never to got it ... will have to do that now.

A little disappointed in KK because I sent him this article in '16, and, despite that he didn't respond, he did crib a number of my points for this piece, as well as the Borges allusion.

https://vimeo.com/166807261

All the infrastructure needed for this already exist in a form which offers barely adequate performance. Good performance should be just a generation or two away, and then things should get interesting.

The 'Mirrorworld' described here is not just an AR application. It's an indexable, queryable database of "everything" that is built.

Don't think about nameplates above people.

Think about service crews coming to inspect the local sewer network, who get an "xray" view of the pipes running under the street.

No, thank you, kind user. Just because you are unable to remember the names of relevant people around you, there is no particular reason why anyone sensible should agree to have personal data be transmitted to random people around them at all times.

Such name identification on the fly then contributes to a (still fictional for the public) global real time people location service. Great, because 5 people are in line-of-sight of George McGeorgeface he is now confirmed to be at the dildo store in downtown Nairobi although he claimed to be sick for work, thank you face recognition APIs!

It's bad enough that we get tracked and screwed for ad data nowadays which just happens to not even stay in the ad space.....

Good example; if there's going to be a 'shared' mirrorworld it probably can't be an end in itself the way games are.

It would have to be at least one of informative (about the real world), social (so your network is all there), or common-ground experience (like watching popular shows and sports playoffs). And since 'informative' is fungible, it might not suffice unless there's a clear leader.

Or, I suppose, some major power might roll all the popular offerings into subsections of a top-level experience. It's not that hard to imagine Google or Apple setting up an AR 'appstore' from which you can open games, information, and so on. Google Glass was premature, but the idea made some sense as way to use existing accounts and image analysis abilities.

For a user with a passion for fashion, what might a nifty AR future expert experience look like? Heads-up tooling for where their head is at as they walk down the street. Collaborative tooling for their interactions with friends of similar interests, while walking and retrospectively. What about for software, or for startups?

The AR vignettes I've seen have been generic. Refrigerator contents, street navigation, business travel, etc[1]. Broadly accessible, but most of it mundane. Not targeted, not trying to inspire individuals with "O.M.G. Want future now.".

Sort of like demos of Unreal VR Editor[2] for game devs, or EXA[3] for bands, or PRIMITIVE[4] for software devs. But synthetic, rather than app demos.

[1] HYPER-REALITY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs [2] Unreal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKO9fEjNiio [3] EXA twinkle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB22jF9cRko , multiplayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdZsUZGuCeI&t=9 [4] Java https://www.viveport.com/apps/675c92c6-7df2-4ee3-b919-1bfbb6...