Mobile Augmented Reality Application Supporting Building Facades Visualization

Abstract

The use of mobile devices such as smartphones still increases over last years. Smartphone hardware capabilities are comparable with average personal computers. Thanks to the increasing computing power, their application is focused on more and more sophisticated and complex tasks. These includes among others augmented reality (AR) applications, which support precise GNSS localization and use signals from such devices like accelerometer or gyrocsope. They are able to create interactive, immersive real-time visualisation of any kind. The article presents a prototype Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) Application for visualization of the building facades. It allows to support the original look of the building with the additional information from database. Software of this kind, can be used for overviewing, inspecting or work planning carried out on the facade of the building. As a part of the test, a prototype of the MAR application for Android has been prepared. Rest of the solution components have been presented in form of a concept, implementation of which is planned in near future. Basic technical assumptions are already developed, but details may change. The paper mentions also some important AR problems, especially positioning in urban environment and accurate registration of digital objects in the real world.

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