Guidance and surroundings awareness in outdoor handheld augmented reality

Handheld and wearable devices are becoming ubiquitous in our lives and augmented reality technology is stepping out of the laboratory environment and becoming ready to be used by anyone with portable devices. The success of augmented reality applications for pedestrians depends on different factors including a reliable guidance system and preventing risks. We show that different guidance systems can be supplementary to provide directions to a point of interest and offer clues that help the user find the augmented data when they get close to the location they have to visit. We tested the helpfulness of a map with the points of interest, an image preview of the next point of interest to visit, and an arrow showing the direction to it. The results show that the effectiveness of these guidance systems depend on the distance to the point of interest and the accuracy of the data obtained from the Global Positioning System. We also measured the total time that participants spent looking at the screen, as well as the perceived elapsed time as a measurement of real world dissociation. Finally, we discuss preliminary results to minimize the risk of accidents when using augmented reality applications in an outdoor urban environment.手持与可穿戴设备如今已在日常生活中随处可见，增强现实（Augmented Reality）技术也正走出实验室，可供所有拥有便携式设备的用户使用。面向行人的增强现实应用能否成功落地，取决于多项关键要素，其中包括可靠的导航系统与风险防控机制。本研究表明，不同的导航系统可互为补充，为用户指引至兴趣点（Point of Interest，POI）的行进路径，并在用户抵达目标地点附近时提供线索，帮助其找到对应增强现实数据。我们针对三类导航辅助工具开展了实用性测试：包含兴趣点的电子地图、待访问下一兴趣点的图像预览，以及指向该兴趣点的方向箭头。实验结果显示，此类导航系统的有效性取决于至兴趣点的距离，以及从全球定位系统（Global Positioning System，GPS）获取的数据精度。我们还统计了参与者注视屏幕的总时长，并以主观感知的流逝时长作为衡量用户现实解离程度的指标。最后，我们针对在户外城市环境中使用增强现实应用时的事故风险防控问题，讨论了相关初步研究成果。