I cant remember anything 5 years ago that did this, let alone 10.
15 years ago? christ..what portable devices even had decent cameras back then? O_o

“What is the practical utility compared to an application which, for example, uses the built-in camera for object recognition, and then displays information on the screen without a real-world view?”

It can show you =where= it is.
Without a real-world view it merely shows you =what= it is.

“. Walking around with an “AR” application that tells me that the Mexican restaurant I am standing in front of is a Mexican restaurant? Please….”

No, but it could bring up customer reviews that day.

If anyone can review/comment on anything they see at any time, then anyone else in the same place can bring it up that in itself is a VERY powerfull application.

I was not familiar with SREngine. This story dovetails nicely with an article I just posted about Augmented Reality and the iPhone over at GigantiCo.

http://tinyurl.com/augmented-iphone

It is reported (leaked) that the new iPhone will have a built in compass. That would resolve one of the things holding back better AR development on the iPhone.

I would be pleased if you gave the article a peak, and perhaps felt inclined to leave a response.

Best regards,
Chris

What is the practical utility compared to an application which, for example, uses the built-in camera for object recognition, and then displays information on the screen without a real-world view? Who really wants to walk around holding their iPhone in front of them, staring at the tiny screen (and no discussion please, it is tiny) showing an augmented video feed of the real surroundings at an extremely choppy frame rate? Who needs this, and what is the benefit compared to a regular iPhone app?

THIS is the question nobody has been able to answer so far. Walking around with an “AR” application that tells me that the Mexican restaurant I am standing in front of is a Mexican restaurant? Please….

Oh, and the techno soundtrack is atrocious, by the way.

This is really getting somewhere now. A real app on a real device with what looks like quite practical applications.
If the ability to share the comments/information online is well managed this could proove very popular.

I mean, purely using this app would be enough to set up guided tours, resurant reviews/annotation,geo-based games….all sorts.