Iterative Prototyping of Urban CoBuilder: Tracking Methods and User Interface of an Outdoor Mobile Augmented Reality Tool for Co-Designing

Abstract

This research presents results from a study developing a smartphone app, Urban CoBuilder, in which citizens can collaboratively create designs for urban environments using augmented reality technology and game mechanics. Eight prototypes were developed to refine selected design criteria, including tracking strategies, design elements, user experience and the interface with game mechanics. The prototypes were developed through an iterative design process with assessments and incremental improvements. The tracking was especially challenging and using multiple bitonal markers combined with the smartphone’s gyroscope sensor to average the user position was identified as the most suitable strategy. Still, portability and stability linked to tracking need to be improved. Design elements, here building blocks with urban functions textures, were realistic enough to be recognizable and easy to understand for the users. Future studies will focus on usability tests with larger user groups.

The Urban CoCreation Lab—An Integrated Platform for Remote and Simultaneous Collaborative Urban Planning and Design through Web-Based Desktop 3D Modeling, Head-Mounted Virtual Reality and Mobile Augmented Reality: Prototyping a Minimum Viable Product and Developing Specifications for a Minimum Marketable Product

“…In this study, the modeling method is simplified into the placement of a cube that can be manipulated. In previous MAR research, developing the first version of the Urban CoBuilder, the model was constructed by stacking cubes of 3 × 3 × 3 m dimensions with different façade textures [37,70]. Users considered this method easy enough to start modeling quite complex and somewhat realistic buildings.…”

“…Users considered this method easy enough to start modeling quite complex and somewhat realistic buildings. However, the method required too many cube blocks to complete a building structure to be used as an urban planning tool, not least due to the processing capacity of the smartphones being too limited for managing such a high number of cube blocks [37,70]. In the present study, placing just one cube representing each building was lightweight enough for the processing capacity of various devices, but then the stakeholders were limited in creating the more elaborate building forms typically needed in the recreation of planning projects.…”

“…The first rudimentary prototype was formulated by the researchers and software developers by combining a MAR application previously developed by the researchers (Urban CoBuilder, see [37,70]) with a web-based desktop and head-mounted VR 3D modeling platform previously developed by the software engineers (Inplan, see [71]).…”

AR in the Architecture Domain: State of the Art

“…In this sense, the Urban CoBuilder project shows how citizens can collaborate on urban environment projects using AR. The use of multiple markers and smartphone gyroscope sensors activates codesign strategies at an urban scale [116]. Some devices are based on a markerless approach, facilitating the outdoor experience.…”

Implementation of Augmented Reality in a Mechanical Engineering Training Context

“…The display of information (text or 3D representation) in space without connection to reality constitutes much less added value. This consideration is the heart of many augmented reality works [23,24]. Tracking consists of hooking a real element by identification to a defined virtual element, in order to position the entire virtual overlay in space.…”