Law Enforcement and Augmented Reality Technology

Description

By using virtual graphics, three-dimensional maps, textual annotations, auditory information, and haptic (touch) sensations in a coordinated real-time presentation, AR brings together a variety of technologies to display information to individuals in a way that instantly applies to a given task or situation. The use of AR technology may positively influence any situation enhanced or helped by the visual, audible, or haptic display of information not available or detectable by normal human senses.1

A fully interactive AR system may derive information from a multitude of sources. Data can be transmitted wire-lessly from a computer network, accessed from the wearable computer carried by the AR user, acquired from embedded devices within a surrounding intelligent environment, and obtained from wearable sensor arrays scanning the immediate or visible location of the user. Linking individual users together on a wireless network could allow them to view each other’s location and status to coordinate activities and take supportive action when appropriate.

Augmenting reality in this way also allows for some uniquely tailored applications in specific circumstances. Users of AR systems can block out certain aspects of the real world that might either detract from the task at hand, a process known as diminished reality, or they can filter out confusing information and see things not normally visible to the unaided eye, a freeze-frame process called mediated reality.

Original URL

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2004/articles/0223reality.html

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2004/articles/0223reality.html