Who’s going to make an augmented reality layer showing climate related information for COP15?
Today I took a trip around Copenhagen, iPhone in hand and loaded with the new Layar Reality Browser. The Dutch mobile service, which was released to much anticipation yesterday in the iTunes App Store, enables you to see different layers of information on top of the physical reality around you.
Sadly none of the available layers contain data related to climate issues. Why is that? And isn’t it obvious that such a layer should be developed and promoted for COP15, the international climate change negotiations taking place in Copenhagen this December?
Instead of far-fetched city make-up like temporary windmills why not enhance what’s already here and let the citizens of the web inform each other of sustainable initiatives in Copenhagen? I’m talking about augmenting reality and creating a virtual layer of existing data for everyone (with an enabled mobile phone) to access anywhere in the city.
Below are some ideas, but before you read the rest of this photo-illustrated manifesto take a look at the short introduction video to the Layar Reality Browser:
The following are screenshots of the Layar application at work in the streets of Copenhagen today. The layers applied work fine and as far as I see the data could easily be about climate change – but it isn’t yet.
Location: Frederiksberg Allé. This layer shows the distance to the nearest hotel with rooms available. A climate layer could perhaps tell of the street itself; of how trees planted along both sides absorb Co2 and how the Commune of Frederiksberg is rolling out plans to make public areas greener and bring down the carbon footprint. (Don’t know if it is, but the layer would know.)
Location: Gammel Kongevej. This layer shows where I can buy my groceries, but it fails to tell me that right on the opposite corner is Egefeld, the largest (and only) all-organic supermarket in Copenhagen (Frederiksberg.) A climate layer would have a link to Wikipedia telling you how much organic farming benefits the overall climate as opposed to ordinary farming. And if you aimed your mobile phone 90 degrees to the left you’d discover Irma, the Danish supermarket chain that last week broke it’s own world record with a monthly organic sales ratio of 34,3%.
Location: Axel Torv. In the evening this 50 meter tall Ferris wheel lights up the sky – and burns how many thousand kW an hour?! Cheap hotel rooms are all good, but a climate layer should inform the curious onlooker that the city of Copenhagen has just licensed this non-sustainable ride to stay until January. Conscious climate representatives should take a 13 minute ride in the metro instead.
Location: Langelinie. Oh look, a little stranded mermaid! We usually don’t get mermaids this far north… Could it be that climate change is heavily affecting temperature in the oceans and impacting ecosystems too rapidly for marine life to adjust in their natural habitat? Hundreds of photos are taken with mobile phones each day at this very spot. Why not augment reality and give the fairy tale a different spin for a change?
Plenty of ideas. So who’s going to make it happen using the Layar API and data already floating around the World Wide Web?
Btw, this post is part of Blog Action Day for climate change. Check it out at 
MORE STUFF ABOUT AUGMENTED REALITY:
IntoMobile: Layar, the first mobile augmented reality browser
Video: Bruce Sterling on the raw possibility of augmented reality
Video: Cool AR music video project by Lost Valentinos
Video: LEGO Augmented Reality Kiosk