Technophiles and developers seeking the next tech breakthrough were drawn to the Dutch city of Rotterdam on Friday to hear "augmented reality" promoted as a way of changing their view of the world.

Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality combines real-world images with computer-generated images on a screen, usually in real time.

For example, someone holding up a mobile phone equipped with a camera, a global positioning satellite (GPS) sensor, compass and the right software, can point to a city street and overlay older images of historic buildings or streets.

Dutch company Layar is one of the leading providers of the underlying software that makes augmented reality possible.

"Wouldn't it be great to stand somewhere and see what this place looked like sometime in the past?" said Claire Boonstra, one of Layar's founders. "You can teleport yourself to completely new locations."

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Posted at 04:45PM Dec 04, 2009 by Lou Wallace in Astound  |  Comments[0]