In case you missed it, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, an architect at Microsoft Live Labs, architect of Seadragon, and the co-creator of Photosynth demoed the truly amazing possibilities of augmented reality when integrated with mapping solutions at last week’s TED2010 conference.

The demo highlighted what’s possible with augmented reality, and what Microsoft is doing to leverage the jaw-dropping technology to bolster its mapping solution.  With augmented reality embedded into Bing maps, you’re left with a Google Street View-like interface that goes well-beyond anything offered today.  Things like the ability to walk indoors, look up at the sky to view astronomically correct data, view live-video of the location you’re looking at in maps, and view user-generated content and images layered directly on top of the mapping image are all possible with Microsoft’s new technology.

Of course, the possibilities when integrated with mobile devices will define mobile advertising, social networking and just about any other segment for a long time to come.  It’s an exciting technology and is becoming closer than ever to becoming a reality- or “augmented” reality if you will.  Hit the read more link to view the video, be prepared to be amazed…

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a buzz word you’ll likely hear more and more in regards to mobile marketing these days, and for good reason.  The concept holds the all-to-important “wow factor” needed to engage consumers in an entirely new way, and keep them coming back over and over again.

While still in its infancy, marketing campaigns that integrate augmented reality are becoming more common everyday, and are increasingly mystifying consumers by letting them interact with various brands in a way never before available.  Marketers are quickly taking note and putting the concept to good use.  Accordingly, I wanted to showcase some examples of marketers and brands utilizing augmented reality in really cool ways.

Esquire magazine recently debuted an interactive AR issue of its magazine chocked full of engaging elements made possible by downloading a small piece of software and holding the magazine up to your webcam- see a video of the issue in action here.  Similarly, GE implemented AR into an awareness campaign a while back to show its potential and to improve awareness of its “green planet” agenda.  You simply print out a page with a special image printed on it, hold it up to your webcam and watch the AR magic happen.  See the video here.

Circ.us, a digital marketing agency making heavy use of AR, also created an impressive branding tool for Criss Angel and A&E that involved using AR to allow users to play 3D games using a print-out and their webcam- see a video here, or try it out for yourself.  Of course, it’s hard to mention augmented reality without thinking of Layar and it’s mobile AR browser that takes augmented reality mobile, and provides unprecedented potential for marketers.

These are just a few of many applications for AR that are already in use.  The future is undoubtedly bright for the concept, and as hardware, software and the implementation on mobile devices matures, the wow-factor will only grow larger.

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