If you’re familiar with Photoshop, augmented reality is like having a bunch of layers available. Activate the “Spanish” layer, aim your iPhone viewfinder at a train station, and see the train departure schedule en Espanol. Activate the “AIA” layer and see what local members of the American Institute of Architects have to say about the train station, along with links to video highlighting design decisions and their implications.

And while Google certainly gets much of the ink, I daresay most of the really interesting applications are being spearheaded by European companies like Layar. It’s been my experience that the really cool applications will be led by smaller entities with niche expertise, like AIA, Zagats, and of course, DMOs.

When AR finally does become valuable and interesting, it will be owned by Google and maybe one or two other information giants, because AR is all about relating large quantities of small-scale data with geocoding and geolocation. And who does that best?

Supposedly a glasses-mounted through-the-pupil retinal input device will be coming out next year — real soon now. In the unlikely event it actually works (I saw the first prototype for this back in 1990), that may be a first step towards useful AR.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by kevinlukemay: INCLUDES awesome video!! Augmented Reality and Sixth Sense Convergence into Near Reality | Tnooz http://bit.ly/6Dsp5K...