The insideAR 2011 conference came to an end this week, leaving many that attended the event brimming with expectations about the promising future of augmented reality. The technology has been attracting a lot of attention in recent months due to the innovative uses some businesses have been thinking up for the technology. The conference focused on the myriad of ways augmented reality can be used, from marketing to medical research, and how the technology can be taken beyond the realm of novelty.
The event attracted many leading AR companies, but none were so well received as Germany’s Metaio. The company has become a formidable force in the world of interactive technology and has taken AR to new heights. One of Metaio’s more recent accomplishments is the successful construction of a living virtual city. The city is persistent, constantly changing and evolving even when no one is looking at it through a smart phone. The city’s physical representation is nothing more than a series of grey buildings, but using augmented reality brings the entire thing to life.
During the conference, Metaio’s Peter Meier noted that augmented reality technology was on the verge of causing a major revolution in the fields of entertainment, gaming and marketing. This would be similar to the major changes coming to these industries in the 90’s when technology began advancing at a rapid rate, allowing businesses to produce higher quality content. Metaio is poised to be the engine behind this revolution as it continues to make its augmented reality technologies more advanced.
