Layered Realities – a walk into the near future

I’ve seen some forms of these ideas in a number of places.  I don’t remember where, but I'm definitely not claiming to have invented any of them.   My goal today is to put together a bunch of interesting ideas and tell a little story. 

The Prediction

Unlike some of my other articles, this entire article is the prediction. All or nearly all of the technologies necessary to implement Layered Realities exist today.  What is lacking, is apparently the will to do it.  Perhaps we can help change that.  

Let me know what you think.  And, tell me if you know of people out there who are building solutions similar to those described here.  -- NostraDavis

Stepping into the layered world – a musical encounter.

Imagine, if you will, using your Internet connected camera, cell phone, or virtual reality glasses as your window to the world.  I’ll imagine it as if I were using my iPhone.  I will turn on my camera, and hold the phone out in front of me, viewing the world by both looking directly at it (over the top of the phone) and by looking at it through the virtual lenses of the phone.  

Through my virtual lenses, I can see the same world that I see directly with my eyes immediately in front of me.  Well, maybe not entirely the same.  

Up ahead, there is a sign on the wall, advertising the latest music video.  Look closer. It’s a Harry Potter poster – the characters in the poster are all moving – and they are looking directly at me – making eye contact!   Then  I back away and look without using my virtual lenses.  I don’t see it.   Looking again through my phone, I see meta data around the poster.  I touch a virtual button, and I can hear the song in my earphones.  One of the musicians offers to sell the track to me,  to download it onto my phone immediately.  No Thanks. I click off and walk on.

That advertisement is layered on top of reality and only visible to those with virtual lenses.  This is a clever application of location technology, pattern recognition (the building and the place on the wall), image projection (to the viewpoint of my iPhone with even apparent eye contact), and advertising dollars.  All this technology is available today.   It is just waiting for someone to put it all together in the right way.

The Crime Scene.

I’m a police inspector.  Over there – across the road.  Someone has recorded the details of a crime scene, a nasty car accident.  There is the wrecked car, over there are the skid marks (highlighted in bright yellow so you cannot miss them), and over there is a body (blinking in and out of view), someone who was hit by the careening automobile.   As I get closer, I can see all sorts of meta data tags floating in the air over the various components of the crime scene.  These can be used to call up information related to this crime scene – invoking additional layers of information.  

This layer has been recorded by the police, investigating an accident.  Parts of it might be made available to insurance investigators. The investigators can even add to the information stored in the scene.  All of the relevant facts and spacial relationships between accident features are recorded enabling a complete walk through by investigators.

Out for a walk one night.

This evening, I’m wearing VR glasses – they let me see the physical scene directly, and layer displays of additional virtual realities on top of my view.  The VR glasses will also go translucent, displaying only what my portable applications tell them to display.  These apps live in my next generation cell phone.

There is a figure walking down the street – visible using the virtual lenses, but not visible without.  I can see him and he can see me.  I walk up to him, and using my device, select a meta data icon that establishes communication between he and I.  My cell phone serves as both the projection conduit and the communications conduit.  His image and other layers are made visible on top of the physical layer.

I  ask him what is going on.  Turns out, he is on an adventure, looking for clues in a murder mystery.  Some of the clues are in the real world, some are in layers.  As we join him in this quest, additional layers (those provided by the  game system) become visible to us.

Over there, across the street and up in a tree is a bird, singing.  As we approach it, the bird utters a clue in French and flies into a building using a door that is not really there.  We follow.  There, by the entrance to the building is another clue, a statue that displays a carved tablet as we approach.  Hundreds might be taking part in this adventure - from all over the world.

Some other chance encounters.

Later, I visit a virtual art exhibit on the street, next to a taco stand.  There are paintings, statues, and 3D video clips on display.  I can walk around them and talk to the other viewers of the exhibit.

On the subway home, people who have windows to other reality layers are treated to a live performance by a famous rock musician who just happens to be "in the mood" that evening.

Police, approaching a vehicle stopped for speeding, see a hidden gun, under the arm of the driver, courtesy of imaging equipment in their police cruiser, and see metadata indicating the driver’s rap sheet in the air over his head as they approach.

And, wouldn’t it be fun to see what’s behind that door over there.  The one that’s not on the physical wall ?

Postscript - References and Credit

The concept of layering is hardly new.  We see it in TV "green screen" weather reports on a daily basis.  And, I am reminded, we see it in football games - arrows on the field, and advertisements on the wall behind home plate in baseball.

Of course, the military has had a similar concept in their "heads-up" displays in aircraft and other weapon systems.  Even Cadillac offered a windshield projected infrared reality overlay a few years back.

The idea of virtual art that is tied to a GPS location is from William Gibson, an American-Canadian author.  It is mentioned in a number of his more recent books - he calls it Locative Art.  http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/