Augmented Reality with Maps for Off-Screen POI Awareness

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) applications for mobile devices are common nowadays, however the information superimposed over the image captured by the device's camera is limited to its field of view. To address this problem in the visualization of points of interest (POI), we have combined the AR view with the display of the POI's location in a map to increase user awareness about nearby POI. It gives insight about the orientation and distance between the POI and the user. We developed 3 solutions: (1) including cues to off-screen POI in a frame at the border of the AR view and providing an alternative map view; (2) combining the AR view with a mini-map superimposed on its top left corner; and (3) combining the AR view with a circular radar view on its top left corner. A usability study performed to compare these approaches revealed that, although all the approaches were positively appreciated, the solution with a mini-map was the preferred one.