LBS Technology: Air Graffiti

Overview

Air Graffiti^TM is a prototype location-based service that allows users to place videos, photos and songs "in the air" at a physical location. For example, if you shot a video of a proposal or took a picture at a historical landmark, you could digitally place this material "in the air" for others to see. Air Graffiti^TM creates a pervasive LBS platform based on geographic coordinates, allowing mobile users to combine online and offline interactions and giving them the ability to "tag" buildings, street corners or potentially the entire world. This technology allows users to become part of the history at that particular location. It is still in development at our Labs, where we are exploring more of the "art of the possible" with how this service can be applied to real-life situations.

The Future

Real-world social networking is one application of what's possible when users have access to a pervasive LBS platform. Other potential applications include:

• Educational applications. Tourists could take an architectural tour around a city, with a virtual architect tour guide who narrates a building's history at each stop.
• Augmented Reality gaming. Gamers could play "capture the flag" on the streets of New York.
• Social network recommendations engine. Hungry mobile users could find reviews for a new restaurant "tagged" on its front door — or suggestions for a better option nearby.

Finally, a platform like the one that makes Air Graffiti^TM possible could be used as the foundation for next-generation LBS. While there are many emerging LBS applications, each pulls information from its own database and none are currently interoperable. A standardized infrastructure opens up new possibilities for LBS, bringing a new class of Web.

Learn more about how Air Graffiti works.