Article 10; Portable Real Estate Listings – But with a Difference

This week’s article is titled: “Portable Real Estate Listings – But with a Difference”. The article was written by Scott Macintosh of the New York Times. In a time where it seems like thousands of mobile phone applications are used everyday, it seems silly to write an article about portable real estate listings. The difference between a Google search for real estate and the service described in this article, however, is the introduction of A.R., or “Augmented Reality”.

The application was engineered by Layar, “a 10-month-old company based in Amsterdam”. The technology uses real images mixed with “elements like statistics and 3-D images”. The technology uses a phones camera, GPS, and compass to provide the user with information about a specific location. Some examples of the current uses of the A.R. Technology are: “displaying information about tourist sites, chart subway stops and restaurants, allowing interior designers to superimpose new furniture or color schemes on a room, and give crime statistics for a specific area”.

The technology has certainly caught on in other places as well. Since Layar is an open platform, “it has attracted 1,000 developers who have created 2,000 programs for the iPhone 3GS and Google’s Android operating system”. Leslie Tyler, A Zip Reality Spokesperson, commented on the real estate use of the technology: “You can look at a map and see what properties have sold around you and for how much. But with augmented reality, it’s easier to see,” she said. “As opposed to seeing the home as a pin on a map, you get it in 3-D. It’s the same info. But the experience of looking at it is more interesting.”

An example of an already very successful application is Zillow, Which started as a website based in Seattle. Their job is to provide links for 3-D mapping of property values. The service is so popular, “their application for the iPhone has been downloaded one million times”.

Main Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/greathomesanddestinations/26iht-rear.html?pagewanted=2&ref=technology

Second Article:

http://gizmodo.com/5292748/layar-first-mobile-augmented-reality-browser-is-your-real-life-hud