Microsoft Demos Augmented-Reality Maps at TED

Over the weekend, I kept hearing about this TED video where Microsoft’s Seadragon architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, was showing off some of the features that are coming to Bing Maps. I didn’t know quite what to expect, especially with a term like, “augmented-reality” floating around, but after watching the video, all I have to say is, “Google Earth?”

Sure, that might be jumping to conclusions, since Google Earth pretty much revitalized online mapping, with help from its follow-up features such as Street View, but some of the examples shown in Bing Maps is simply incredible, and in some cases, mind-blowing. The first thing Blaise shows off is the increased fluidity of the maps system as a whole, where zooming in isn’t a pixelated mess, but rather one with smooth transitions.

That’s just where things start, though. Also improved is the automatic turning into a 3D map when you zoom in close enough to the street, and similar to Google Earth, you can go down to a street view of sorts. From the demo, though, Microsoft’s implementation is a lot more natural, and the world doesn’t appear so flat. You feel like you are in a true 3D environment.

Even cooler, when inside this 3D environment, you have the option of viewing other photos that other people took, implemented right into the scene. Using Microsoft’s Photosynth technology, sites like Flickr are scoured for photos with geo information in order to figure out just where it should be placed. It’s hard to describe, but after watching the video, I’m willing to bet that you’ll be impressed.

Perhaps the coolest upcoming feature, though, is the new ability to map the insides of buildings, using backpack cameras. In his example, Blaise walks into a farmer’s market right off the street, and looks around. If that wasn’t cool enough, he called a friend who happened to be right in there, with the backpack camera, and the video was be stitched right into the scene, appropriately lined-up to rest of the scene.

All I can say is, “wow”. If the software in reality lives up to the demo, then I foresee many lost hours in all of our future’s. Oh, as long as we non-Windows users can see improved OS/browser support, at least.

Blaise Aguera y Arcas’ background is as multidimensional as the visions he helps create. In the 1990s, he authored patents on both video compression and 3D visualization techniques, and in 2001, he made an influential computational discovery that cast doubt on Gutenberg’s role as the father of movable type. He also created Seadragon (acquired by Microsoft in 2006), the visualization technology that gives Photosynth its amazingly smooth digital rendering and zoom capabilities.