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After nearly a decade of false starts, augmented reality (AR) innovations have reached commercial maturity and are arriving in increasing numbers on city streets in the form of smart phone viewfinder apps, smart glasses, games, and guides. This session provided an overview of technology trends in AR, early lessons from a pioneering effort to use the technology for public engagement in transit planning in Columbus, Ohio, and insights for cities where AR could add value to infrastructure projects.
Key insights shared:
Augmented reality use cases aren’t waiting for perfect technology.
AR is hard. Devices and software must precisely determine a user’s position and gaze direction to overlay digital information on the real world. But AI “shortcuts” are driving less sophisticated but valuable applications to market quickly. Greg Lindsay, 2022-2023 Urban Tech Fellow at Cornell Tech, highlighted that while advanced AR devices like the Apple Vision Pro have yet to see widespread adoption, low-cost alternatives that simply recognize and annotate objects and places in a user’s field of view are unlocking many use cases for infrastructure.
AR proves informative and empowering in public communications around infrastructure.
Mindy Justis, Senior Account Manager, MurphyEpson, shared a compelling real-world application of AR in the LinkUS initiative, a transit network expansion project in Columbus, Ohio. In this project, AR startup inCitu was tapped to develop an on-bus experience, allowing passengers to visualize proposed rapid transit lines and understand their potential impact on the city. This interactive approach led to more meaningful conversations with the public, as community members were able to ask more informed and nuanced questions about the project.
Leverage existing skills and assets in city government to explore AR’s potential.
Mark Wheeler, Principal, Alogra and CIO, City of Philadelphia (2018-2023), emphasized the importance of proactive planning and engagement with these emerging technologies pointing out how AR’s growing influence in urban settings also presents risks, such as businesses using it to manipulate consumer behavior or distort competitive landscapes, reinforcing the importance of regulatory oversight. But cities have many strategic assets to leverage, such as GIS data. He emphasized the importance of a multi-departmental approach, ensuring that AI and AR benefit various aspects of city planning, transportation, and public services.
Resources Shared During the Webinar and in Discussion:
- The Augmented City: Seeing Through Disruption, Cornell Tech Urban Tech Hub report.
- Bloomberg’s The Gates Installation
- inCituAR
About the Tech and Innovation Center Series (T&IC)
The T&IC series is dedicated to helping local leaders navigate and understand the large quantities of information from the federal government on the nearly 400 funding opportunities available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The 2 year series is focused on how cities can leverage technology to improve their federal infrastructure funding proposals during 2023 and 2024. Programs focus on helping cities improve their proposals in response to Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFO’s) by adopting state-of-art technologies, expanding their technology capacity, and integrating aspirational technology “moonshots” for their cities.
The Series is produced by the Jacobs Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech and U.S. Digital Response (USDR) as part of the Local Infrastructure Hub, a partnership of the US Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, Results for America and Delivery Associates supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ballmer Group, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.