Realtà Aumentata: nuova frontiera del wayfinding

The new frontiers of "wayfinding" foresee the use of smart tools, including smartphones and tablets, on which Augmented Reality (AR) Apps have been installed to help find orientation and move better in the surrounding milieu. The potential of AR is enormous especially out in the "mobile" space where according to the ARCchart research firm there will be some 2.2 billion AR technology smartphones in the market by 2015. Currently focus is on developing Apps especially for sports and, more generally, for universal design. Among the many ways persons relate to the surrounding space there is the one where signal-oriented systems allow for an enhanced recognition of the articulation of places or of the functions taking place therein. This approach is part of the wayfinding technique which can be viewed as the way to transfer cues from the external environment through signal-oriented and/or other means of communications, thereby providing a support to the strategies persons use to find the correct route in either unfamiliar or familiar environment based on their perceptive and cognitive abilities and patterns.