Improving the user knowledge and user experience by using Augmented reality in a smart city context

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesThe idea of Virtuality is not new, as research on visualization and simulation dates back to the early use of ink and paper sketches for alternative design comparisons. As the technology has advanced so the way of visualizing simulations as well, but the progress is slow due to difficulties in creating workable simulations models and effectively providing them to the users (Simpson, 2001). Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), the evolving technologies that has been haunting the tech industry, receiving excessive attention from the media and growing tremendously are redefining the way we interact, communicate and work together (Shamalinia, 2017). From consumer application to manufacturers these technologies are used in different sectors providing huge benefits through several applications. In this work, we demonstrate the potentials of AR techniques in a smart city context. Initially we present an overview of the state of the art software and technology for AR in different domains of smart cities, and outline considerations from a user study about the effectiveness and user performance of AR technique: real environment with augmented information, everything in the context of a smart city. The evaluation results from the participants show promising results, providing opportunities for improvements and implementation in smart cities