NYC Billboard Is Feeling Augmented Reality

Billboards are a tough sell for augmented reality- they're expensive real estate, they're constantly exposed to a variety of external conditions that wreak havoc on natural feature tracking algorithms and sdk's, and outside of urban environments they're generally only seen while moving past them at 65-80 mph. So how does one utilize a billboard for an AR experience? Tack it to a place in an urban environment where there are always a @#$%load of slow-moving vehicles present. Cue bustling New York City's Holland Tunnel, where readers familiar with the area will immediately summon memories of exhaust stench, honking horns, and that dreadful summer day mid-way through a heatwave when your AC on your Nissan Stanza craps the bed.



To express your inevitable sentiment, rather than raging and yelling at your car and fellow commuters, why not just take your iPhone, point it at the billboard, and snap a picture to post to your Facebook wall that says "I am feeling (ANGRY FACE)"? New York-based GPS augmented reality app GoldRun partnered up with Tronic Studio and outdoor marketing firm ADstruc to bring us the first billboard with feelings. The billboard is part of the latter's "Billboards For Everyone" campaign, which brings together local design talent to create engaging billboards around the area.

Billboard with feelings? The feelings are actually generated by the users. But still a fun way to eat up annoying traffic time. Speaking of which, have we killed the whole using-Angry-Birds-as-the-default-idle-time-wasting-example? No?