[The Guardian]

Planning is the source of some of the fiercest debate in public life. Local residents often misunderstand how a new development will look when finished, or how it will affect the surrounding area.  …

By overlaying the real world with digital information, augmented reality software creates a geometrically accurate composite of the physical and the virtual. …

… AnEU-funded project called Arthur, which allowed architects and customers to review designs even before they were built, finished in 2004. It created computer-generated models on augmented-reality, head-mounted displays that enabled participants to view 3D virtual models on a planning table, tweaking their size and scale in real-time.

Urban Sketchers, another prototype device, uses a “mixed reality” interface. This allows parties interested in a proposed development to augment video footage of the site using sketching software. But new smartphone-based, augmented-reality planning tools could obviate the need for such specialist hardware. …

Read the full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2012/may/18/augmented-reality-planning-applications