Map Torchlight : A Mobile Augmented Reality Camera

The advantages of paper-based maps have been utilized in the field of mobile Augmented Reality (AR) in the last few years. Traditional paper-based maps provide high-resolution, large-scale information with zero power consumption. There are numerous implementations of magic lens interfaces that combine high-resolution paper maps with dynamic handheld displays. From an HCI perspective, the main challenge of magic lens interfaces is that users have to switch their attention between the magic lens and the information in the background. In this paper, we attempt to overcome this problem by using a lightweight mobile camera projector unit to augment the paper map directly with additional information. The “Map Torchlight” is tracked over a paper map and can precisely highlight points of interest, streets, and areas to give directions or other guidance for interacting with the map.