OUTDOOR AR-APPLICATION FOR THE DIGITAL MAP TABLE

Abstract

In many fields today, it is necessary that a team has to do operational planning for a precise geographical location. Examples for this are staff work, the preparation of surveillance tasks at major events or state visits and sensor deployment planning for military and civil reconnaissance. For these purposes, Fraunhofer IOSB is developing the Digital Map Table (DigLT). When making important decisions, it is often helpful or even necessary to assess a situation on site. An augmented reality (AR) solution could be useful for this assessment. For the visualization of markers at specific geographical coordinates in augmented reality, a smartphone has to be aware of its position relative to the world. It is using the sensor data of the camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU) for AR while determining its absolute location and direction with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and its magnetic compass. To validate the positional accuracy of AR markers, we investigated the current state of the art and existing solutions. A prototype application has been developed and connected to the DigLT. With this application, it is possible to place markers at geographical coordinates that will show up at the correct location in augmented reality at anyplace in the world. Additionally, a function was implemented that lets the user select a point from the environment in augmented reality, whose geographical coordinates are sent to the DigLT. The accuracy and practicality of the placement of markers were examined using geodetic reference points. As a result, we can conclude that it is possible to mark larger objects like a car or a house, but the accuracy mainly depends on the internal compass, which causes a rotational error that increases with the distance to the target.