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The Augmented Reality Magazine No. 3 | February 2013
Spotlight on Metaio Creator
The Difficulties of being Droid
AR in the Construction Industry

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The Augmented Reality Magazine No. 3 | February 2013
Augmented Reality in Construction
13
LEGO Digital Box
10
4
The Metaio AREngine
6
The Metaio Creator
14
Enterprise Solutions
12
Android Fragmentation
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in this issue
forum
The World’s First AR
Processing Unit 3
focus
The Metaio AREngine 4
features
The Metaio Creator 6
AR in Minutes 7
AR Excitement for 2013 8
Global Mobile Awards 2013 9
AR in Construction 10
Android Fragmentation 12
fragments
LEGO Digital Box 13
Metaio Enterprise Solutions 14
events
InsideAR: The Augmented
Reality Conference 15
CeBIT 15
ISMAR 15
insideAR Team
Editor:
Daniel Gelder
Creative Director:
Christopher Zak
Communications Director:
Trak Lord
Copy Editors:
Matthias Greiner
Nikoleta Notova
Design and Layouts:
María Barrena
metaio GmbH
Infanteriestrasse 19, Haus 4B
80797 München, Germany
+49 89 5480 198 0
metaio, Inc.
375 Alabama Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
+1 415 814 3376
www.metaio.com

Press Release
Metaio brings world’s first Augmented Reality
Accelerated chipset to market, signs agreement with
ST-Ericsson to integrate future mobile platforms
SAN FRANCISCO – FEBRUARY 21, 2013: Metaio today announces an agreement with ST-Ericsson, a leader
in wireless platforms and semiconductors. Under the terms of the agreement, ST-Ericsson will integrate
Metaio’s Augmented Reality hardware IP, the so-called “AREngine,” into the next generation of ST-Ericsson
mobile platforms resulting in the first application processor accelerating Augmented Reality performance
on mobile devices.
Metaio’s cutting-edge technology inserts nearly any 3-D and virtual content into the real world by recognizing images,
objects and entire environments. In a mobile future that clearly requires smart devices to be ‘always on’ and
connected, the Metaio AREngine drastically reduces power consumption making all-day AR experiences possible.
This first-of-its-kind collaboration will improve nearly all aspects of an Augmented Reality experience, yielding performance
increases in speed, precision and power consumption, with up to 60 times faster initialization, more than
an AR app running on existing platforms – the highest to date in the mobile industry. Both Metaio and ST-Ericsson
strongly believe that working together will accelerate the adoption of Augmented Reality as a consumer technology.
“The AREngine will do for Augmented Reality what the GPU did years ago for the gaming industry,” said Metaio
CTO Peter Meier. “This is a great leap in the AR space, and we strongly believe that the AR Engine working with
ST-Ericsson platforms will help realize the Augmented City - the idea of a completely connected environment
powered by Augmented Reality and made possible with next-gen, optimized mobile platforms.”
“Working together, this will be the first ever integration of dedicated AR hardware IP on silicon,” said Björn Ekelund,
head of Ecosystem Research and Innovation for ST-Ericsson. “By continuing our relationship with Metaio, this
agreement will provide a competitive advantage to both companies and our customers in the smartphone and
AR space, where people are looking for differentiating factors when making their purchase decisions. AR will no
longer be limited to simple 2-D images - with Metaio’s AREngine, the future possibilities are endless.”
Visitors to the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will be treated to live demonstrations of Metaio’s technology
and the benefits of Augmented Reality hardware integration. For more information, visit www.metaio.com/mwc
Watch the AREngine video: http://youtu.be/6br7NreTwD4
###
About Metaio
The worldwide leader in Augmented Reality (AR) research and technology, Metaio develops software products
for visually interactive solutions between the real and the virtual world. Based on the Metaio Augmented Reality
platform, digital and 3-D content can be integrated seamlessly into the user’s camera view looking upon the real
world. Powering over 1,000 apps for enterprise, marketing, retail, publishing and industrial cases, over 30 Million
consumers use Metaio’s AR software. Learn more at www.metaio.com
About ST-Ericsson
ST-Ericsson is a world leader in developing and delivering a complete portfolio of innovative mobile platforms and
cutting-edge wireless semiconductor solutions across the broad spectrum of mobile technologies. ST-Ericsson
was established as a 50/50 joint venture by STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) in
February 2009, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
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forum The World’s First AR Processing Unit
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focus The Metaio AREngine
Accelerating Augmented Reality: The Metaio AREngine
The AREngine and the journey to
the first AR-ready smartphone
Nearly a decade ago, to the day, Thomas Alt and Peter
Meier founded Metaio with the intent of advancing
Augmented Reality (AR) as the primary interface for
experiencing the digital and online worlds. This was a
time when the most popular mobile device’s (the Nokia
1100) features were limited to SMS and a calculator.
The dawn of the era of the smartphone really did
change everything for the Augmented Reality industry,
as suddenly the average user could experience through
mobile cameras the same visual elements formerly
restricted to factory-floor AR installations running on
offline high-powered PCs.
Back then it was clear that computer vision and
Augmented Reality experiences would greatly benefit
from optimizing the software for individual handsets and
chipset platforms. It was then that Metaio embarked on
developing relationships with OEMs, handset manufacturers
and chipset platforms in order to one day realize a
fully optimized device, ready for Augmented Reality from
the moment the consumer removes it from the shelf.
Despite hardware limitations, Metaio was able to make
leaps and bounds with applied research and lowlevel
optimizations. Their award-winning R&D team
was responsible for the first commercial deployment
of 3-D tracking and recognition on a mobile device.
Metaio’s engineers were also the first to align a given
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smartphone camera with gravity, educating the sensor
on how to better perceive its surroundings like the human
eye. In fact, Metaio has made incredible software
developments in 2012 alone.
In 2009, it was no less than a technological feat to get
a top-of-the-line HD camera connected to an offline
desktop PC to recognize a single pre-designed image
and render a single 3-D model in real-time. With the
latest low-level optimizations, Metaio has achieved
recognizing 100 unique images and overlaying 100
unique 3-D models, all on a mobile device. If Metaio
can accomplish these things without having any prior
access to the processors and sensors inside these devices,
imagine what mobile users could do with a fully
AR-ready smartphone.
Whether it’s Google’s Project: Glass concept or popular
movies like Minority Report or Terminator, nearly all of
the popular references to Augmented Reality depict an
“always on” interface. The camera is constantly scanning,
detecting, recognizing and overlaying information
and content onto the real world. In order to achieve this
vision (something Metaio refers to as the “Augmented
City”) of ubiquitous interaction, it is imperative that the
groups developing the hardware are working with those
developing the software.
For this reason, Metaio began developing a piece of
hardware IP now known as the “AREngine”, an architecture
designed specifically to accelerate Augmented
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Reality performance in mobile hardware, and one of
Metaio’s longstanding platform partners, ST-Ericsson,
will be the first to adopt and deploy it on silicon. The
AREngine will propel Augmented Reality into the future
and will do for the industry what the addition of the GPU
did for the gaming industry.
Before the populace sports head mounted displays that
resemble eyeglasses; before society adopts wearable
computing; before contact lenses come in 16, 32 and
64 gigabyte models; before we exist in an Augmented
World – there must be the first step. The future of
Augmented Reality starts now with the first ever introduction
and implementation of the AREngine.
Always On. Always Augmented.
Metaio AREngine Features
→ Higher performance enables an increase in scale and volume
of Augmented Reality
→ Faster initialization on 3-D point clouds allows for an increase
in the volume and size of the 3-D point cloud
→ Dramatic reduction in power consumption will allow for Allday
AR experiences
→ “Always on” of Augmented Reality usage for current & future
devices requiring continuous AR visualization & search
→ AREngine modules can be customized to meet the
semiconductors requirements
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Metaio and Mobile World Congress
a rich history of introducing the latest advances in AR
Throughout the years Metaio and its partners have served as
Augmented Reality ambassadors at the Mobile World Congress,
delivering insightful speaking sessions, appearing in multiple
technology panels and showcasing the latest technology on the
show floor.
2010
Metaio works with Sony Ericsson to showcase
the latest image recognition technology on Sony
Ericsson’s newest Android device at the time.
2011
Metaio demonstrates breakthroughs in mobile AR
with Intel – including the first 3-D object recognition
and tracking – and announces the first of many strategic
OEM partnerships to come with ST-Ericsson.
2012
Metaio releases its Augmented City platform,
complete with the first 3-D object recognition
and tracking, to the entire mobile community,
presenting its technology at the booths of multiple
prominent OEMs, including ARM, Intel, Texas
Instruments and, of course, ST-Ericsson.
Junaio, the most advanced mobile Augmented Reality
browser app is a fast and easy way to discover your
world. Find local events, offers and listings; scan QR
codes to get instant access to additional information;
unlock augmented content on images and objects to
play games or experience new virtual interactions.
Broadway
0.5mi
focus The Metaio AR Engine
0.1mi
Madame
Tussauds
0.4mi
Times Square
for iOS and Android
www.junaio.com
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features The Metaio Creator
Spotlight on Metaio Creator, AR in Minutes
The Internet would be nothing
without content.
The same is true for the Augmented Reality industry.
Though Metaio works regularly with industrial and automotive
clients on internal projects that the public rarely
sees, the consumer side of augmented reality benefits
from creative and engaging content, often created by
partners and developers in the mobile community.
The Metaio Creator had very humble beginnings as an
online companion to Metaio’s mobile augmented reality
browser, Junaio, to help new AR developers publish
simple experiences. As the AR ecosystem evolved, so
did the product. Metaio recognized that more than just
developers needed to have access to development
tools. Originally intended as a solution for the print industry,
it became clear to Metaio that the technology
appealed to a broader audience.
Even today a still growing community of artists, designers
and creative professionals involved with mixed and
digital media want to use Augmented Reality as the next
medium – and it was for that group of people that Metaio
released the first iteration of the Creator tool, a simple
drag & drop desktop publishing solution that removed
the need for programming.
In October of 2012 Metaio announced at its annual
InsideAR technology conference that it would introduce
scalable augmented reality software and services
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to the technology community in order to aid in the
creation of compelling AR content. Following InsideAR
2012, Metaio heeded the requests of its burgeoning
network and added better 3-D content support, native
app creation capability, and cloud service offerings to
the Creator, in addition to a version for OS X.
Now nearly anyone can create augmented reality experiences
and applications in just a few minutes and the
opportunities and potential uses increase exponentially.
A creatively-minded person could simply augment his
or her business card with a virtual resume or introduction;
family members could attach the latest videos
or images of important events to holiday greetings; a
publisher could bring the most featured editorial content
to life on the cover of a magazine or newspaper; a
digital marketer could turn a print campaign into a fully
integrated digital masterpiece, connecting the virtual
assets with every physical aspect of the experience; or
he or she could use the graphical user interface (GUI)
designer to build a custom mobile AR application, all
with just a few clicks.
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Learn more at www.metaio.com/products/creator or stop by our
booth at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in App Planet, Hall 8.1,
booth 8.1E39 to talk to a member of our team.

Augmented Reality in just 3 steps with the Metaio Creator
The creation of Augmented Reality experiences and
scenarios has been, until recently, reserved for developers
and programmers. Thanks to the Metaio Creator, a
new AR authoring tool, editors, designers, students, and
marketing agencies can create and visualize their own
Augmented Reality ideas, concepts and applications
without any programming knowledge necessary.
Get started creating an Augmented Reality scenario in
minutes with these 3 easy steps:
1. Upload your trackables and your digital content
(videos, 3-D and/or 2-D assets, buttons, audio,
etc.) by dragging & dropping them directly into the
Metaio Creator. Files are automatically converted and
optimized for the Augmented Reality scenario, and
the trackables are evaluated and rated based on their
quality for image recognition during the upload.
2. Create your experience with just a few clicks… Align
digital elements like buttons, videos or 3-D models
with the trackable by dropping elements from the
Resources panel right onto the trackable image or
3-D map. The application logic creates itself!
3. Publish your Augmented Reality experience with just
one click to junaio or the metaio cloud and try it out
immediately on your smartphone or tablet.
metaio Creator Features
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features AR in Minutes
→ Easy to use software and no developer background required
→ Options to share your videos, images, audio and 3-D
contents with millions of AR users
→ Publish to Metaio’s existing AR Browser App, Junaio, with no
app submission
→ Build your own Augmented Reality app, from beginning to
end, with the Metaio Creator
→ Instant content updates without app resubmission through the
Metaio Cloud
→ Integrated Analytics Manager for your AR campaigns
→ Connected with the newest Metaio Cloud service
Download Metaio Creator for FREE!
Try for yourself, start creating AR scenarios using up
to 2 tracking patterns and publish them for free on
the junaio AR browser! Available for Mac OSX (version
10.7 & higher) and Windows.
Download the metaio Creator at:
www.metaio.com/products/creator
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features AR Excitement for 2013
5 reasons to get excited about Augmented Reality in 2013
Originally posted on venturebeat.com, December 23, 2012
Augmented reality (AR) may seem like a futuristic concept,
but it will be a reality of our digital lives in 2013. AR
is a new technology that blurs the line between what’s
real and what’s computer generated by enhancing
what we hear, see and feel. Next year, I predict that it
will be everywhere. Here are my five reasons why:
The glasses are coming, the glasses are coming!
Whether it’s Google’s Project Glass or concept videos
along the lines of “Sight”, the Internet can’t get
enough of Terminator Vision. A few companies have
however made some pretty impressive technological
leaps this year: this fall, Vuzix debuted their monocular
AR prototype for industrial use at the annual InsideAR
conference; Innovega showcased their Augmented
Reality contact lens prototype at the 2012 Consumer
Electronic show, for which they’re currently seeking
FDA approval; and researchers at the University of
Washington successfully displayed a single pixel on an
eye (albeit, that of a rabbit).
In the meantime, retails brands like Oakley and game
favorite Valve were just as quick to throw their hats in the
ring alongside patent applications from tech giants Apple
and Microsoft. But don’t bother Santa with your letters
– widely available (and affordable) wearable Augmented
Reality devices probably won’t hit shelves until 2014.
Smartphones will be
AR-equipped
We might not get Paul
Smith AR goggles anytime
soon, but expect OEMs,
handset manufacturers
and carriers to integrate
optimized Augmented Reality, visual display and camera
performance into the next generation of smartphones,
because it’s basically already happening.
Premier-to-punchline-to-rising-star Nokia recently
launched the City Lens app, exclusive to its Lumia
suite of devices. UK-based chip designer ARM has
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had its eye on AR for a while, powering and optimizing
experiences for its architecture found in the Samsung
Galaxy SII, SIII and Note devices. And let us not forget
Telefonica and their mad dash to serve mobile
Augmented Reality advertisements to the entirety of
their O2 network, alongside mobile coupons and location-based
services.
Location, Location, Location
GPS and geodata were responsible early on for bringing
Augmented Reality to the forefront. Applications
like Junaio and Layar made a splash in the tech world,
offering location-based navigational “channels” and “layers”
where UFO-like billboards bobbed on the horizon,
displaying information about your surroundings. In 2013
expect to see the next generation of those GPS-based
experiences, incorporating not only data from on-board
sensors like the gyroscope and camera, but other niche
mobile technologies that rely on proximity such as NFC.
Companies like Hover are already deeply embedded in
generating and augmenting 3-D maps of urban areas,
and my company (AR firm Metaio) has successfully
developed “snapping algorithms” that pull this kind of
data from the cloud and tightly align it to the real world.
Expect your city to get a lot more augmented in 2013.
The death of the
gimmicky app
Disclaimer: there will always
be marketers that
abuse useful technology
for their own nefarious,
poorly designed purposes
(re: QR codes), but expect
to see brands move to better, faster and stronger apps
that give their audience clear incentives for regular use.
3-D bunnies smiling at you from conference marketing
material may have seemed novel at the time, but creating
a new app for each one-off experience is neither
scalable nor tolerable from a user’s perspective.
The 2013 IKEA Catalog app featured an Augmented
Reality viewer that visualized furniture in 3-D and
served related video and digital content to readers.
It was the most downloaded branded app of 2012,
even after launching in July. With that kind of success
as a benchmark, expect other companies to start
managing entire product lifecycles with Augmented
Reality solutions- not unlike Mitsubishi Electric with
their enterprise MeViewAR app that visualizes heating
and cooling units in the real world. Mitsubishi Electric
has already moved to the next phase for 2013, intending
to visualize 3-D maintenance instructions for
service technicians.
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The birth of the elusive killer app
It doesn’t exist, and it probably won’t. Augmented
Reality is a horizontal technology, which means that
the nigh-limitless applications make it a challenging endeavor
to develop the Evernote/YouTube/Wordpress/
Instagram of Augmented Reality. We did however see
the AR Angry Birds, and even if it isn’t official it’s still a
pretty clear indication that a successful AR game could
lead the way for massive adoption. There are already
some good examples out there, like the new JengAR
game that inserts the 3-D content into the environment
itself rather than needing a printed image.
Expect more games to take this approach in 2013 as
we move toward experiences that engage users in their
actual surroundings. But the most amazing app for
which the industry could possibly hope is only peripherally
related to AR. 3-D content is tough. it’s difficult,
expensive and time-consuming to create, and may present
the biggest barrier to producing AR experiences.
Augmented Reality needs an app that easily generates
3-D content and exports it in major supported formats.
Think “Draw Something” meets iMovie, in 3-D. That
would be something!
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Metaio Nominated for 18th Annual
Global Mobile Awards
We’re pleased to announce that Metaio has been
nominated for the prestigious 2013 Global Mobile
Awards for the 2013 Mobile World Congress in
the category of Best Mobile Service or Product for
Automotive. As Metaio has strong roots in AR applications
for the car industry, we’re very proud to have
the chance to present with our partner, Audi AG in
Barcelona this year.
Metaio and Audi AG worked together to develop the
Audi eKurzinfo Augmented Reality assistant app.
New Audi A1 owners can download the app for iOS
devices and get introduced to their car in just a few
minutes, with no manual necessary. Through the
app, the user can use Metaio’s visual search and
recognition technology to identify insignia throughout
the vehicle and receive immediate feedback on
how to use that particular feature of the new Audi.
The first iteration of the Audi eKurzinfo app was
based purely on image recognition. For 2013,
Audi will release the brand new version of the app
featuring real-time visual graphics and advanced
Augmented Reality interactions. Audi intends to roll
out this service beyond the A1, starting with the A3
but with the potential for future models as well.
If you’re attending the Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona this year, please come visit us! In addition
the Awards Ceremony, Metaio will be in Hall 8.1 at
the App Planet, showcasing the latest in Augmented
Reality and 3-D technology. We are fortunate to
also have amazing partners like Intel, Imagination
Technology and ST-Ericsson, at whose booths you
can see how Metaio’s technology works with some
of the best chipset platforms and handsets out there.
Where to find Metaio @MWC 2013
metaio ......App Planet, Hall 8.1, Stand 8.1E39
Intel ........App Planet, Hall 8.1, Stand 8.1E20
Imagination ..Hall 7, Stand 7I110
ST-Ericsson ..Hall 7, Stand 7E111
NVIDIA. .....Hall 7 Stand 7C110
ARM .......Hall 6 Stand 6A31
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features Global Mobile Awards 2013
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features AR in Construction
Augmented Reality in the Construction Industry
Augmented Reality (AR) enhances the
environment by allowing human senses to
interact with richer and more compelling
experiences through the addition of
digital information to the real world.
Virtual content can now coexist with the tangible world.
The origins of Augmented Reality take their root from
Ivan Sutherland 1965’s piece: “The Ultimate Display”.
Since then, the application and interest in AR has grown
exponentially in various industries. While many have
been quick to adopt Augmented Reality, the construction
industry has been slow to embrace this new technology.
In order to draw a better picture of the state of AR in
the construction industry we sent 345 surveys to construction
companies and received 34 responses. The
majority of respondents were European with the remaining
participants in North America, South America,
Asia and Australia.
Of the 38% already familiar with AR, 23% note the
technology is already implemented in the workplace,
comprising only 9% of the responding companies.
Surprisingly enough, nearly 90% said they could think
of ways that Augmented Reality could be useful within
their respective workplaces.
At this time, AR implementation seems to be restricted
to a few large companies, while smaller building
firms and architect offices are reluctant to adopt new
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Survey: AR and Construction
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Are you familiar with AR
Does your company use AR?
Would AR solve problems
at your company?

technology tools due to finite resources. In addition,
it is of note that 40% of those aware of AR but not
yet using it in the workplace say that the technology is
currently being investigated and that it could be used
in the near future.
A demonstration illustrating the advantages of AR in the
construction industry was showcased last year at the
InsideAR 2012 Augmented Reality conference in Munich,
Germany. The aim of this demonstration was to visualize
how the planning of a construction site, with the help of
AR, provided significant improvements over traditional
methods. The demo focused on the features of engineering
and industrial based Augmented Reality and the
benefits it is able to bring to the construction industry.
Features
→ Virtual elements are augmented into the real world in real time
→ Visualization of all devices and equipment involved in the project
→ Crane range of motion visible through visualization of its radius
→ See-through 3D radius of cranes models and range of motion
→ Visualization of the various connection required to utilities
→ Representation of the finished project
→ Visualization of any additional information possible
→ Visualization of the overall construction site’s structure and layout
Benefits
→ Planning takes place on site; no paper plan needed
→ Determine optimal orientation and disposal of each and every unit
→ Easily see how accessible the material storage and other
necessary areas are
→ Provides extensive feedback of crane interaction with
surroundings in order to prevent collisions
→ Base the layout of you construction site on the availability of
utilities and maximize efficiency
→ Instantly see how your construction project looks, interacts &
impacts on the surroundings
→ Superimpose the construction schedule to monitor the deadlines
→ Improved coordination between delivery services and
construction site logistics
Quick Facts - Metaio Engineer:
+ =
→ Advantages of AR for Construction & Planning
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features AR in Construction
→ Reconstruct onsite virtual 3-D assets, materials, prototypes
and environments, in real-time
→ Insert and visualize objects obscured by real-world materials
→ Reduce costs, test processes and simulate project conditions
even in planning stages
→ Visualize completed project in a real-world environment
before it kicks off
→ Optimize a project’s delivery with more efficient prior planning
and design
Learn more about Metaio Engineer!
Contact us at sales@metaio.com for more information
on what you can achieve with Metaio Engineer and
industrial AR.
www.metaio.com/products/engineer
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features Android Fragmentation
The Difficulties of being Droid
The first smartphone running Google’s
Android mobile operating system was
released in October 2008. Today, 1.3
million android devices are activated
daily, 70,000 of which are tablets.
Due to it’s nature as an open platform, Android can
be installed on any kind of device, with any kind of
hardware, including different graphic capabilities,
completely different and non-homogeneous screen
sizes, different user inputs, on both high and low end
devices. Android has even been seen running on cars,
ovens and refrigerators. There are seemingly no limits
when it comes to the myriad of devices and electronics
that can run Android.
This, however, presents a problem for companies and
developers bringing applications, games, books, movies,
music and magazines to the Google Play store.
This problem is called fragmentation and is a result of
nearly unlimited device variations and configurations, in
respect to both the hardware and software.
Developers want to take this fragmentation issue and
make it work to their benefit, but clearly cannot be
expected to make a single application for all Android
devices and have it to work perfectly on every single
one. For this reason, companies and developers are
spending extra time and effort on their applications and
optimizing the user interfaces to fit on every screen size
or at the very least, the widest possible range of sizes,
resolutions and combinations of screen orientations.
Today, 1.3 million Android
devices are activated daily
Imagine great-looking app optimized for a smartphone
with a smaller screen. How will it look when running on
a different phone with a larger screen, or on a tablet
in landscape orientation? On a higher resolution display,
the interface components can be adjusted and
positioned in a more visually engaging manner, or more
information can be shown on the display. In regards to
tablets, retaining the same layout may result in a waste
of the usable screen real estate, resulting in the need
to vary the user interface again or create a completely
different version of the application.
Introduced alongside Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), the
Fragments API has made it much easier to create an application,
based on fragments, which is also backwards
compatible with earlier Android devices. Fragments
make it possible for developers to define sections of
the user interface as individual units that can adjust
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their location on screen depending on the screen size,
resolution and orientation of the device. Now Android
developers have the power to ensure that their applications
offer quality user-experiences with less worry
about which device the user may have in their hands.
This is great for app development in general, and especially
for Augmented Reality applications. With the
flexibility of the devices that the Fragments API allows
developers to target, less time is necessary for user
interface adjustments and backwards compatibility
issues, allowing more time to be spent enhancing,
perfecting and delivering the best Augmented Reality
experiences possible. Augmented Reality is great for
tablets and devices with larger displays, but users with
smaller devices should also be able to easily experience
all of the amazing AR content and applications
being offered.
The Metaio SDK for Android is also the only available
augmented reality software with which developers can
create native Android apps. In conjunction with the
Fragments API, developers not only have a much easier
time optimizing applications for different devices, but
can also rely on their creations to work as intended for
the user or client. And one of the huge benefits of the
so-called fragmentation of the Android OS is that the
plentitude of devices running Android mean more users
and more clients to reach in one of the largest mobile
audiences in the world.
And with Android expanding to automobiles and maybe
even connected home appliances, developers will have
myriad opportunities to create new experiences and interactions
for all aspects of our daily lives. Windshields,
mirrors, refrigerator “desktops”- and of course, Glass.
Either way, they can rely on the Metaio Augmented
Reality SDK to get there.
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The LEGO Digital Box Augmented Reality Kiosk
An eye-catching in-store AR solution for
the most iconic toy company in the world
Purchase decisions at the point of sale are mostly
driven by the excitement of customers about a product.
This certainly applies to the toy market.
Customers tend to want to examine and interact with
products before purchasing them. Though LEGO is
one of the world’s most renowned toy companies, consumers
can only really interact with the product after
purchasing, returning home and assembling it. LEGO
wanted a way for potential consumers to engage with
their toys ahead of time, so they opted for an Augmented
Reality point-of-sale experience to show the customer
product features and to stimulate customers’ emotions
towards the product.
Metaio developed a custom AR application for LEGO
based on the Metaio SDK - the LEGO Digital Box. The
application relies on image detection and tracking to
recognize the different LEGO boxes and visualize 3-D
animations of the finished LEGO models directly on top
of the product packaging, complete with sound effects.
The application was designed modularly so that content
updates can be performed painlessly. Furthermore,
statistical evaluation has shown a positive impact on
the consumer experience and other targets of LEGO in
regards to the DIGITAL BOX.
Children can now hold LEGO packaging up to the
DIGITAL BOX and watch a 3-D animation of the product,
from any angle and in every detail - all in their
hands. The installation not only creates a fascinating
technological experience, but also gives in-store retailers
a unique positioning opportunity to educate and
influence purchasing decisions.
“The DIGITAL BOX helps consumers get a better
impression of our products,” says Torben Nielsen,
Director of 3D technology from LEGO Group’s Digital
Development Department, and adds: “We’ve had very
positive feedback from our stores and customers.
Thanks to Metaio’s technology, we can excite and inform
our customers on a new level.”
Quick Facts
→ Start of the initial evaluation phase in November 2008
→ Worldwide brand store rollout began in April 2010
→ Using the Metaio SDK
→ Bringing customer excitement to a new level
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fragments LEGO Digital Box
→ Most successful Augmented Reality application worldwide
13

fragments Metaio Enterprise Solutions
Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating Relies on
Augmented Reality Enterprise Solutions from Metaio
To boost adoption of its ductless air conditioning and
heating products, Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating
needed to more effectively show consumers what an
installed unit would look like in their home. As a result of
deploying the metaio Enterprise Solution (MES), a mobile
augmented reality app, to each of its sales channel
representatives. Mitsubishi Electric has projected an
increase of $30 million in revenue. They also forecast
decreasing by millions the future costs for printing and
distributing product catalogs.
The latest innovations in comfort technology and energy-efficient
ductless HVAC systems are provided
by Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating, a division of
Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. Ductless
systems are 30% more energy-efficient than unitary
HVAC and offer personalized comfort control in each
room or zone.
Mitsubishi Electric provides sales tools, technical support
and training to contractors, distributors, engineers and
architects on its award-winning line of variable refrigerant
flow (VRF) and ductless systems for commercial and
residential, respectively, installations. With over 25,000
contractors and 1,500 distributors nationwide, Mitsubishi
Electric needed a solution to streamline the delivery of
information and education of its sales channel.
Gabriel Weiss, head of Interactive Marketing Technologies
for Mitsubishi Electric, recognized a number of issues with
the company’s multi-faceted communication network.
Weiss found redundancies and shortcomings, including
marketing strategies that competed with each other.
14
For example, product and pricing information in print
catalogs was becoming out of date before the next
catalog was even drafted. They need a solution that
could be updated year-round. And while product was
pictured in these print catalogs, being able to show the
product actually in the customer’s space would answer
the most frequently asked question from customers,
“What will it look like on my wall?”.
Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and
Heating is generating an additional
$30 million in annual sales by
visualizing products with the
metaio Enterprise Solution
Weiss’ vision for Mitsubishi Electric is “Using technology
to sell our technology,” so the value of having a
custom-branded app through which products could be
“seen” was invaluable.
“Using the metaio augmented reality technology we
are able to give our customers a mobile product visualization
tool that is completely unique to our industry.
Giving them a competitive advantage and making the
sales process more efficient for them.”
To visualize a unit exactly as it would appear installed in
a customer’s home, Mitsubishi Electric sales representatives
simply place a 18-inch by 18-inch Post-It Note
marker on the wall where the unit should appear and
launch the meVIEW AR app on an iPad. When the
user points the iPad’s camera towards the marker, the
product is automatically displayed to scale where the
marker is on the wall. The user can then tap to place
any product on the same location and share of photo
of it via email with family or project decision makers.
Using this technology, products can be visualized in
any location throughout a customer’s home or office.
Mitsubishi Electric also opted to include social features,
so that photos taken of the augmented experience can
be posted to Twitter and Facebook.
Learn more about Metaio AR
Enterprise Solutions
Contact sales@metaio.com for more information
on how Metaio Enterprise Solutions can solve your
Augmented Reality needs.
www.metaio.com/enterprise
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InsideAR: The Augmented Reality Conference
Meet Metaio all over the world
GPU Technology Conference
March 18-21, 2013 – San Jose, California
http://www.gputechconf.com/page/home.html
Game Developers Conference
March 25-29, 2013 – San Francisco, CA
http://www.gdconf.com/
Gartner CIO Leadership Forum
March 17-19, 2013 - Huntington Beach, CA
http://www.gartner.com/technology/summits/na/cio/
South By Southwest Interactive
March 8-12, 2013 - Austin, TX
http://sxsw.com/
PAX East
March 22-24, 2103 – Boston, MA
http://east.paxsite.com/
Augmented World Expo
June 4-5, 2013 - Santa Clara, CA
http://augmentedworldexpo.com/
events
October 2013 - Munich, Germany
Discover the future of Augmented Reality at the annual InsideAR Augmented Reality Conference, hosted
by Metaio. Visit the AR Live-expo and experience Augmented Reality hands-on with exhibits and demos
presented by, Metaio, their partners and the growing community of certified developers. Keynotes and presentations
from industry experts will take place during the conference, giving you insight into the numerous ways
Augmented Reality is changing the world we know.
For more information visit www.metaio.com/insideAR
CeBIT ISMAR
March 5-9, 2013 - Hannover, Germany
CeBIT is the world’s largest trade fair showcasing
digital IT (information technology) and telecommunications
solutions for home and work environments.
The key target groups are users from industry, the
wholesale and retail sectors, skilled trades, banks,
the services sector, government agencies, science
and all users passionate about technology.
Learn More at http://www.cebit.de/
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October 1-4, 2013 - Adelaide, SA, Australia
The 2013 ISMAR (International Symposium on
Mixed and Augmented Reality) conference showcases
the diversity and quality of work in Mixed and
Augmented Reality, with a top-quality collection of
workshops, tutorials, panels, papers, posters, and
late advances in Science & Technology and Art,
Media and Humanities programs.
Learn More at http://ismar.vgtc.org/
15

The Augmented Reality Magazine
www.metaio.com