Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Handheld Augmented Reality for underground infrastructure visualization

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, we present an Augmented Reality (AR) system for aiding field workers of utility companies in outdoor tasks such as maintenance, planning or surveying of underground infrastructure. Our work addresses these issues using spatial interaction and visualization techniques for mobile AR applications and as well as for a new mobile device design. We also present results from evaluations of the prototype application for underground infrastructure spanning various user groups. Our application has been driven by feedback from industrial collaborators in the utility sector, and includes a translation tool for automatically importing data from utility company databases of underground assets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://www.vidente.at.

  2. http://www.virtualearth.com or http://earth.google.com.

  3. http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wfs.

  4. http://www.opengeospatial.org.

  5. http://www.studierstube.org.

References

  1. Höllerer T, Feiner S, Hallaway D, Bell B, Lanzagorta M, Brown D, Julier S, Baillot Y, Rosenblum L (2001) User interface management techniques for collaborative mobile augmented reality. In: Computers and graphics, vol 25, pp 799–810

  2. Viega J, Conway M, Williams G, Pausch R (1996) 3D magic lenses. In: Proceedings of ACM symposium on user interface software and technology, pp 51–58

  3. Mendez E, Kalkofen D, Schmalstieg D (2006) Interactive context-driven visualisation tools for augmented reality. In: Proceedings of ISMAR’06, Santa Barbara, 22–25 Oct 2006, pp 209–216

  4. Furmanski C, Azuma R, Daily M (2002) Augmented-Reality visualizations guided by cognition: perceptual heuristics for combining visible and obscured information. In: International symposium on mixed and augmented reality (ISMAR), pp 215–224

  5. Bane R, Höllerer T (2004) Interactive tools for virtual X-ray vision in mobile augmented reality. In: Proceedings of international symposium on mixed and augmented reality, pp 231–239

  6. Roberts GW, Evans AJ, Dodson AH, Denby B, Cooper SJ, Hollands RJ (2002) The use of augmented reality, GPS and INS for subsurface data visualization. In: Proceedings of XXII international congress of the FIT, Washington DC

  7. Feiner S, MacIntyre B, Höllerer T, Webster A (1997) A touring machine: prototyping 3D mobile augmented reality systems for exploring the urban environment. International symposium on wearable computers (ISWC’97), Cambridge, 13–14 Oct 1997

  8. Rekimoto J NaviCam (2001) A palmtop device approach to augmented reality, In: Barfield W, Caudell T (eds) Fundamentals of wearable computers and augmented reality. Laurence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah

  9. Wagner D, Schmalstieg D (2003) First steps towards handheld augmented reality. In: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on wearable computers (ISWC’03), USA, pp 127–135

  10. Reitmayr G, Schmalstieg D (2004) Collaborative augmented reality for outdoor navigation and information browsing. In: Proceedings of symposium location based services and telecartography, Vienna

  11. Schmalstieg D, Reitmayr G, Schall G, Newman J, Wagner D, Ledermann F, Barakonyi I (2007) Managing complex augmented reality models. In: IEEE computer graphics and applications (CG&A), Special issue on 3D documents, no 4

  12. Reitinger B, Zach Ch, Schmalstieg D (2007) AR scouting for interactive 3D reconstruction. In: Proceedings of IEEE virtual reality, pp 219–222

  13. Schall G et al (2007) Handheld geospatial augmented reality using urban 3D models. In: Proceedings of the workshop on mobile spatial Interaction, ACM international conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI2007), San Jose

  14. Bier E, Stone M, Pier K, Buxton W, DeRose T (1993) Toolglass and magic lenses: the see-through interface. In: Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, pp 73–80

  15. Kruijff E, Veas E (2007) Vesp’R—transforming handheld augmented reality. In: Proceedings of international symposium on mixed and augmented reality (ISMAR’07), Nara

  16. Zhai S, P Milgram, Buxton W (1996) The influence of muscle groups on performance of multiple degree-of-freedom input. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI’96

  17. Reitmayr G, Drummond T (2006) Going out: robust model-based tracking for outdoor augmented reality. In Proceedings of IEEE ISMAR’06, Santa Barbara

  18. Kalkofen D, Mendez E, Schmalstieg D (2007) Interactive focus and context visualization for augmented reality. In: Proceedings of international symposium on mixed and augmented reality (ISMAR’07), Nara

  19. Julier S, Lanzagorta M, Baillo, Y, Rosenblum L, Feiner S, Hollerer T (2000) Information filtering for mobile augmented reality. In Proceedings of ISAR 2000, Munich, 5–6 Oct 2000, pp 3–11

  20. Fröhlich P, Simon R, Baillie L, Roberts J, Murray-Smith R (2007) Mobile spatial interaction. In: Extended abstracts of CHI2007, conference on human factors in computing systems, San José

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was sponsored by Österreichische Forschungs-förderungsgesellschaft FFG under contract no. BRIDGE 811000 and ASAP ARTIST 815531, the European Union under contract no. FP6-2004-IST-427571 and the Austrian Science Fund FWF under contract no. Y193 and W1209-N15. We thank VRVis Graz group for providing the 3D reconstruction library. We also thank GRINTEC GmbH and Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebe AG for providing the relevant geospatial data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 16a, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Gerhard Schall, Erick Mendez, Ernst Kruijff, Eduardo Veas & Dieter Schmalstieg

  2. GRINTEC GmbH, Anzengrubergasse 6, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Sebastian Junghanns

  3. Microsoft Photogrammetry, Anzengrubergasse 8, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Bernhard Reitinger

Authors
  1. Gerhard Schall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Erick Mendez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ernst Kruijff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Eduardo Veas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sebastian Junghanns
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Bernhard Reitinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Dieter Schmalstieg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerhard Schall.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schall, G., Mendez, E., Kruijff, E. et al. Handheld Augmented Reality for underground infrastructure visualization. Pers Ubiquit Comput 13, 281–291 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-008-0204-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-008-0204-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation