junaio for Android

Munich / San Francisco | Published on: May 10, 2010

junaio for Android – Mobile Augmented Reality Browser recognizes Natural Features and Opens New Opportunities http://pressdoc.com/p/00021n

junaio is now also available for Android and proves that it is much more than another location-based AR browser. With the release of the closed Beta for developers, metaio makes an important step on its way to a AR browser available on multiple platforms and with new and unique features. The most important news is the integration of natural feature tracking. The Android version is openly available for external developers since end of April and is expected to be released by mid-May to the public.

As with other AR-browsers, users can find nearby POIs like shops, restaurants or train stations by simply pointing their mobile phone’s camera on their environment. The POIs are being presented on the smartphone’s display as icons, 3D objects or logos at their actual location. A map and navigation to the POI can also be requested. But junaio wants to be much more than an AR-browser showing you the right direction to relevant POIs. Peter Meier, the CTO sees junaio on its way to becoming an “augmented reality experience platform”. junaio provides unique features, which emphasize AR’s capabilities to provide fascinating user experiences. Because Android allows access to analyze the videostream, the Android version will be the first free and open mobile platform to provide natural feature tracking to the developer community. “We expect these capabilities to revolutionize outdoor or print advertising, packaging and mobile gaming”, says Peter Meier. Users now can point their phone to a billboard and virtual characters might be jumping out of it. This is a big chance for advertisers and for the traditional print media. Print-ads or billboards can be enriched with additional information and the customer may be linked to the website or the shops directly. This direct buying impulse and the avoidance of media discontinuity will be a strong argument for some companies to invest again into traditional print media. The software recognizes the image and overlays dynamic data, due to position, scale and target group into the real world view of the camera.

 

Until now, junaio has been available for the iPhone and the number of registered developers has reached over 300 since opening up the API (Application Programming Interface) in February 2010. junaio is already available as closed beta for developers and a client version is to be released in mid-May. As with its iPhone version the closed beta-version for Android allows registered developers to create AR-mashups, information channels or game concepts with the open API which can be deployed to iPhones and Android phones.

 

metaio CTO Peter Meier sums it up: „As a company doing image processing for such a long time now, it´s great to see, how we can finally leverage our core competence within the new mobile devices. It´s a technological breakthrough.” And Daniel Gelder, VP Sales & Marketing adds: “Connecting ads, packages, billboards, signs or whatever image with multimedia content within a channel on junaio is a fantastic new cross-media way for brands to get in touch with users. At the right place and in the right moment.”