Mixed Reality on a Virtual Globe

Augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are being used in urban leader tactical response, awareness and visualization applications (Livingston et al., 2006; Urban Leader Tactical Response, Awareness & Visualization (ULTRA-Vis), n.d.). Fixed-position surveillance cameras, mobile cameras, and other image sensors are widely used in security monitoring and command and control for special operations. Video images from video see-through AR display and optical tracking devices may also be fed to command and control centers. The ability to let the command and control center have a view of what is happening on the ground in real time is very important for situation awareness. Decisions need to be made quickly based on a large amount of information from multiple image sensors from different locations and angles. Usually video streams are displayed on separate screens. Each image is a 2D projection of the 3D world from a particular position at a particular angle with a certain field of view. The users must understand the relationship among the images, and recreate a 3D scene in their minds. It is a frustrating process, especially when it is a unfamiliar area, as may be the case for tactical operations.