Extending the scope of augmented reality to what you CAN’T see

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To many people, augmented reality is about annotating what you can see. Names of landmarks, reviews of restaurants, the sale price of houses, and so on.

However with a little imagination, augmented reality can allow us to see what is around us but invisible, or what our environment will be like at another time.

As a follow up to the award-winning augmented reality iPhone app SunSeeker, which shows the direction of sunlight at any time on any time, Graham Dawson has released See Breeze, an “Augmented Reality Wind Visualizer” which shows the direction of the wind. Graham has a detailed write-up of See Breeze on his blog. The video demo below gives a feel for what it can do.

This particular app will be useful to anyone who is subject to the wind, most obviously pilots, sailors and practitioners of sports such as windsurfing and cycling, but also fire fighters and picnic organizers.

We are very early in our exploration of augmented reality. These kinds of apps are pushing the boundaries. I have no doubt that augmented reality will go far beyond how most people today think of it.

Full disclosure: Graham is my brother!