Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) has been proven to be useful in many fields such as medical surgery, military training, engineering design, tourist guiding, manufacturing and maintenance. Several AR systems and tracking tools have been reviewed and examined. Taking into consideration the different shortcomings of the available AR systems, a framework for indoor video-based AR applications is proposed to integrate four main components of AR applications, which are large scale virtual environment, mobile devices, interaction methods and video-tracking, in one system. The proposed framework benefits from the rapidly evolving technology in virtual modeling by combing GIS maps and 3D virtual models of cities and building interiors in one single platform. Interaction methods for AR applications are introduced, such as the automatic 3D picking which allows for a location-based data access. In addition, a practical method is proposed for the configuration and the deployment of video tracking. This method makes use of the XML mark-up language to allow for future extensions and simplified interchangeability. An implementation of the proposed approach is developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the framework. Different case studies are carried out to validate the applicability of the system and identify its benefits and limitations.