AR Codes for Smart Cities
13 Sep 2020Interactive information is crucial for the public’s orientation in a Smart cities world. Augmented Reality already offers the necessary technology to display interactive information in any situation via an AR Code.
With the new AR devices arriving on the mass market, such as the Apple AR glasses, this AR implementations in smart cities will become a must.
What is a Smart City?
Inspired by the Ancient Roman cities, Smart cities are urban organizations that use technology to deliver services and solve cities' problems. The term smart here does not refer to a characteristic that defines the city. It is rather a philosophy to create well-being for the people living in it. A smart city is different from a regular city as it uses smart technologies to give its citizens an easier life.
Generally, a smart city offers various tech trends such as improving transportation and accessibility, refining social services, endorsing sustainability, or giving a voice to its citizens as its main goal is to improve policy efficiency, decrease waste and inconvenience, expand social and economic quality, or to maximize social inclusion.
Smart city’s citizens are familiar with new technologies as they daily use smart tools to solve their problems. They will easily adapt to the AR Codes scanning to get interactive 3D experiences.
What is an AR Code?
An AR Code or an Augmented Reality Code is a kind of barcode that contains the information needed to show in a very simple way a 3D content. This last can be reproduced in an augmented reality environment.
An AR Code can be placed anywhere, on product packaging, business cards, books, tickets, food packaging, brochures and flyers, labels and stickers, clothing, banners and posters, bottles and cans, newspapers and magazines, etc.
AR Codes are particularly useful for city information display. It can show dynamic information and makes the audience very receptive. As examples, they could be used at a bus stop to provide the bus schedule or on a metro system card to provide a map:
Smart cities need Augmented Reality solutions
In a smart city context, AR Codes can be used in many ways to display Augmented Reality experiences:
- In the public transports: AR subway maps, instantaneous information on the transport network status, display of a hologram, or a video for passenger advice, ...
- For tourism development as it can offer interactive experiences within museums, for the promotion of some historical monuments or for full distant virtual visits.
- To improve the employee's productivity as it can display the encrypted and localized information on the city’s infrastructure such as the electric system, the watering, the cabling, the pipes, etc.