Scenery changes are up to the passenger as they decide on their own preferred landscapes
Augmented reality may soon be changing the view outside train windows after a Japanese audiovisual collective called Salad came up with a design to give travelers their choice of landscape.
The highly advanced AR technology project was entitled “Touch the Train Window”.
In order to create the augmented reality options, the Salad team used an Xbox 360 Kinect, in combination with an iPhone, a GPS sensor, a projector, and a large variety of different openFrameworks code. This technology fusion meant that users would be able to add objects in real time on the landscapes and scenes that were in front of them.
For example, augmented reality balloons and other animations could be added to a landscape passing by.
The augmented reality allows an object’s size and depth to be automatically determined based on where the user has touched the window. The purpose of the system is purely entertainment, as it allows travelers on trains to change a boring, stale, repetitive landscape into something much more fun and interesting. Objects can be moved around or changed entirely, depending on the taste and preference of the user. All of this is combined with the actual scenery that is visible through the train window at any given time.
This may also present an opportunity to deliver additional information to travelers in the future. For example, by using this style of augmented reality technology, it wouldn’t be impossible to provide travelers with information about the cities, towns, and regions through which they are traveling.
Due to the GPS elements of the augmented reality system, the current location of the traveler would always be identified, so the actual view would be known. Then, applicable data could be displayed on the window to entertain and inform the user.
While the current augmented reality system requires the use of a projector, other companies such as Samsung have already announced that they have been working on using transparent displays with a cutting edge technology that could be worked directly into the actual window of the train.
