Photos: Six free iPhone apps with augmented reality
Find a historical perspective, a pub or a place to work...
While the market for augmented reality, according to analyst ABI Research, may be predicted to reach $350m in 2014, there are already free apps making use of the technology in the wild. silicon.com has rounded up six iPhone apps featuring augmented reality that are available for gratis.
Street Museum
The Museum of London is now offering a free iPhone app, giving visitors the chance to explore the history of London's most famous tourist spots using augmented reality.
The Street Museum app covers over 200 locations around the city.
When a user visits one of these places, the app superimposes a historical view of that landmark onto the present day view through the phone's camera display.
Shown above is a view of what users can see when using Street Museum outside Buckingham Palace.
Photo credit: Museum of London
Theodolite
The app for all would-be explorers, Theodolite uses the iPhone's GPS function to act as a compass and measuring device.
It measures the altitude, elevation, grid reference, compass bearing and horizon angle of the handset, before overlaying them on screen in front of the camera view as seen above.
The paid-for version of the app also includes a calculator for height, distance, heading and position, as well as four different latitude and longitude formats.
Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com
WorkSnug
Designed to locate nearby workspaces in London or San Francisco, WorkSnug provides information about food outlets and coffee shops in the vicinity that may be suitable for remote working.
Details about possible workspaces appear overlaid on the camera view when the phone is pointed in different directions.
It gives users the workspace's distance in metres from their current location, as well as telling them if free wi-fi is available there.
WorkSnug users are able to rate each location based on power provision and noise levels, using an inbuilt decibel meter, with the information then saved for other users to access.
Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com
Layar
Useful for finding nearby points of interest, Layar uses augmented reality to show users the amenities around them, as well as how to get there.
Similar to the Wikitude app, Layar finds flat lettings (such as the one shown above), theatre shows and Tube stations in the local area.
Search results are overlaid onto the camera view in the form of a photo of each place, along with its address and distance from a user's current location.
Visitors to London can also choose to follow a Monopoly tour of the city and visit the streets from the board game.
Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com
Augmeasure
The Augmeasure app acts as a virtual ruler for users, letting them measure distances through the iPhone's camera view.
It superimposes the image of the ruler allowing rough measurements of up to 30cm.
It's not 100 per cent accurate when compared to its plastic competitor but it's a handy alternative for when you get caught away from the stationery cupboard.
Photo credit: Rob Tomkinson/silicon.com
WhereMark
The WhereMark app guides users towards local points of interest.
Search categories include bars, landmarks, museums and restaurants, as well as nearby bus, train and Tube stations.
The search results are then brought up on the display as a floating advert, listing the distance and address of each place.
Users have the option to save the location of their favourite places, or create their own points of interest to navigate to.
Photo credit: Tim Ferguson/silicon.com