Results of an evaluation of augmented reality mobile development frameworks for addresses in augmented reality

Abstract

Addresses displayed on dwellings and buildings play a key role in society. Amongst others, they are used for deliveries, in household surveys, to navigate, or to find friends. Sometimes, address signs are destroyed, displaced or illegible, for example, as a result of vandalism, disasters, or poor maintenance. In augmented reality, computer-generated information is superimposed onto a live view of the real world. When address signs are not available, displaying the address in augmented reality could be immensely useful. The research presented in this article is part of a larger research endeavour to investigate augmented reality for addressing. This article presents the results of an evaluation of augmented reality mobile development frameworks for the implementation of a mobile application that displays addresses in augmented reality. Firstly, the requirements for addresses in augmented reality were identified. Three use cases informed these requirements: disaster relief, e.g. address signs are destroyed by an earthquake; household surveys, e.g. locating dwellings in informal settlements or rural areas where addresses are not assigned in any specific sequence and signs do not exist; and address data quality management, e.g. validating digital address data against addresses displayed in the physical world. Due to procurement challenges in the use cases, open source licensing and integration with open source products was identified as an important requirement. The internet was searched and a list of augmented reality mobile development frameworks was compiled. Based on the requirements, the list was shortened to seven frameworks, which were evaluated against a set of criteria informed by the requirements. The evaluation results can guide developers in choosing a framework best suitable for their specific needs and/or for integration with open source products.