Virtual Graffiti

Virtual Graffiti consists of virtual objects and/or digital messages, images, multimedia or other annotations or graphics applied to public locations, landmarks or surfaces such as walls, train stations, bridges, etc. Virtual Graffiti applications utilize Virtual Reality and Ubiquitous Computing to anchor Virtual Graffiti to physical landmarks or objects in the real world. The virtual content is then viewable through devices such as personal computers, set-top boxes or mobile handsets, such as mobile phones or PDAs. The virtual world provides content, graphics, and applications to the user that are not available in the real world. Virtual Graffiti is a novel initiative aimed at delivering messaging and social multimedia content to mobile applications and devices based on the location, identity, and community of the participating entity.

Virtual Graffiti is also an IT solutions provider formed in 1999. Virtual Graffiti has a focused mix of products and service offerings that deliver solutions that meet their customer’s unique business requirements. for more information please visit [http://www.virtualgraffiti.com Virtual Graffiti's Home Page.]

Styles

This overall effort focuses on creating new mobile experiences based on merging virtual reality, Telepresence, and location based services. These experiences are seen to evolve over time based on the needs and capabilities of the users.

Location Based Messaging

This set of use cases is centered around a mobile user receiving or sending a message based on the computed location of the user. These include experiences such as

• A mobile user poses a query where the nearest Italian restaurant is and receives a set of messages and coupons from nearby restaurant proprietors.

• A user receives a message on her phone that there is an accident on the road a few miles ahead along with a suggested alternative route to take.

• Coworkers arrive in a conference room and receive a notification that the meeting has been moved to a new location.

These use cases are important because they serve as a basis from which the other use cases are built. The resolution of the messaging content is directly related to the accuracy with which the location can be computed.

Location Anchored Virtual Reality

This involves anchoring a virtual reality experience at a physical location. Thus the experiences in the virtual world can only be had at a specific real location. Several use cases that are included here are

• A virtual command post can be set up at the scene of an incident. This command post involves the sharing of information in the virtual world but can only be accessed by those at the scene of the incident.

• A set of blogs and media files are left at famous outdoor sculptures. Groups of friends can contribute, copy, and share files only while they are viewing the sculpture.

Background

The phrase “virtual graffiti” has existed for a long time and has been applied to numerous different applications over the years. Originally, it referred to posting messages on electronic bulletin board systems and marking up whiteboard applications. From there, it developed in academia into contextual messaging applications. Several such examples are given below. In addition to contextual messaging, we also give some background information on three other key industry and entertainment applications.

Contextual Messaging

Contextual messaging refers to leaving some type context-specific annotation, e.g. a virtual post-it note on a computer monitor, a time-sensitive message attached to a conference room telling the occupants you won’t be attending a meeting or location-based graffiti on a physical object.

Researchers at the University of Salford experimented with a CAVE system [cite encyclopedia
title = MY Virtual Graffiti System
author = M. Y. Lim and R. Aylett
encyclopedia = IEEE Intl. Conf. on Multimedia and Expo, pp. 847-850
date= 2004 ] in which a user could mark up a scene using 6-degree of freedom sensors. Obviously this is not something that is suitable for immediate use or mass market applications, but it serves as starting point from which other work could be derived.

A team from the University of Georgia developed a system in which users with WiFi-enabled mobile devices could mark up buildings in downtown Athens, Georgia with their own virtual graffiti via a process known as tagging [cite web
title = "EXPERIMENTAL WIRELESS ART PROJECT ENABLES VIRTUAL GRAFFITI"
url = http://tagging.us/html/pr.html
author = Kit Hughes
accessdate = 2003 ] . In this system, the buildings are selected on a map and the graffiti is stored in a database where it can be accessed from other mobile devices and the project’s website.

A location-based messaging system [cite encyclopedia
title = Augmented Reality Post-It System
author = S. Singh et al
encyclopedia = ACM SIGCHI Intl. Conf. on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology
date= 2004 ] for leaving virtual post-it notes on physical objects was developed at the National University of Singapore. The system uses mobile devices as AR interfaces to view virtual messages associated with fiducial markers on physical objects.

In a project from Lancaster University [cite encyclopedia
title = The Mobile Phone as Digital Spray Can
author = P. Garner et al
encyclopedia = ACM SIGCHI Intl. Conf. on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology
date= 2006 ] , mobile phones are used as digital spray cans. RFID tags are used to identify objects that can be marked up. The RFID tags can hold the identities of the last five people to leave graffiti. The graffiti itself is stored on a server indexed by RFID tag. When another user comes within range of an RFID-tagged object, the graffiti associated with that object is downloaded into their mobile device.

Sekai Camera http://www.tonchidot.com/index.html

ocial Networking

Social networking sites are proliferating across the Internet. These sites claim millions of user accounts from all over the world. The common thread between these sites is sharing. For example, people like to share photos via Facebook and Flikr, personal observations and rants via blogs on MySpace and Orkut, and even their knowledge via Wikipedia. Sharing can extend beyond the traditional definition of social networking to file sharing applications such as Napster, Kazaa, and Bit Torrent. Although the use of such applications for sharing copyrighted material is illegal, the cat has been let of the bag, so to speak, and many users now demand the capability to share music, video, and data files. The rise of YouTube and its subsequent acquisition by Google despite its high-profile copyright infringement dramatically support this point.

Social networking is now going mobile through the development of Mobile Social Software (MoSoSo). Moblogging (mobile blogging) sites first rose in popularity in Japan but are now growing around the world. Mobile picture and file sharing are beginning to gain ground, as in Microsoft’s SLAM project (described in more detail later.) Some location-based mobile services now allow individuals within certain social networks to find each other when they are in close proximity and can even facilitate dating by ensuring that only those individuals who are known to someone you already know can contact you for such purposes (Dodgeball.com and Playtxt are two examples).

Gaming

Gaming/entertainment applications can be divided into two categories: virtual and augmented reality environments. Classic examples of virtual reality applications include many of the massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft. These games are typically characterized by multiple players simultaneously logged in collaborating toward a shared goal but there are other virtual environments in which there is no shared goal or purpose. Examples of these include applications like SecondLife, the Sims Online, and CyWorld. These applications do offer other incentives, though, such as social interaction, creativity that can be expressed through custom content creation, and profitability via thriving online economies (EverQuest players sell virtual treasure collected during adventures on eBay; CyWorld users earn virtual currency by customizing their virtual rooms to entice others to visit them; Linden Lab’s SecondLife virtual currency can actually be exchanged for US dollars – the going exchange rate is about 250 to 1).

Teleconferencing

Teleconferencing involves face-to-face communication between remotely located individuals. Teleconferencing is currently experiencing a large-scale resurgence with product offerings from Cisco and HP for corporate applications, but it is also gaining traction on the smaller scale with application like Skype and iChat. It is not hard to imagine these video conferencing/face-to-face communication capabilities appearing on wireless devices in the future, extending current capabilities like push-to-talk group calls (iDEN) and push-to-view video calls (Samsung, LG). It is interesting to note that even though the term telepresence is used in relation to many of these systems, they do not embody anything more complex than basic video conferencing capabilities.

Technology and Trends

Convergence between contextual messaging, social networking, gaming, and teleconferencing is inevitable. In fact, there are many examples of convergence already taking place. Contextual messaging and social networking have already combined to produce MoSoSo applications like Dodgeball.com, Playtxt, and moblogging.

Contextual messaging and gaming are combining in applications like augmented reality games. Jamba!/Jamster’s Attack of the Killer Virus is an example of an AR game available for cell phones in which images of viruses are overlaid onto the video from the phone’s camera. The user must then kill the viruses by moving the phone to line them up and shoot them. Nokia is currently seeking patent on a method of hiding and revealing messages in augmented reality environments for gaming purposes (more details are given in the next section.)

Social networking and gaming are coming together in online applications like World of Warcraft (WoW) and SecondLife. In WoW, users can log in with their friends and participate in quests for adventure and treasure while chatting with each other. SecondLife takes this one step further by creating an entire virtual world complete with its own economy in which people can engage in any kind of activity. Some users create virtual content for themselves and others; some sell or develop virtual real estate; some are beginning to hold actual meetings in the virtual world, such as job fairs and business meetings.

Gaming and teleconferencing are also coming together, as evidenced by Comverse’s SecondLife client that runs on a cell phone and SecondLife’s announcement that they are adding audio capabilities to their avatars.

References