Archive for category iPhone Augmented Reality Apps

Car Finder iPhone App Helps Find Lost Cars

If you constantly forget where you parked your car, a new app from Intridea could be the answer to your problems. Last week, Intridea released Car Finder ($0.99, iTunes link), an augmented reality app that helps you locate your car in a crowded parking lot.

Carfinder

To use the app, you first have to mark the location of your car. When returning to the parking lot, the Car Finder app overlays your car’s position on top of the iPhone’s live camera view and displays the distance to your car. According to the app description:

Use it to find your car anywhere you are. Once you load the application you can use the camera viewfinder to see an overlay of where your car is, the direction it is located and how far away it is.

The app uses both the iPhone’s camera and compass, so Car Finder only works with the iPhone 3GS. You’ll need a good GPS signal for the app to work properly, but if you happen to be in a remote area, you can add notes into the app so you’ll still be able to find your car later.

car finder1

Car Finder is a $0.99 download at the iTunes store.

Video: How to Turn on Augmented Reality in the Yelp iPhone App

Some are having a little trouble activating the augmented reality easter egg in the Yelp app, so above is a little video tutorial about how to do it.

Using augmented reality blew me away at first, but after testing it around Chicago, I noticed a few problems. The biggest being that the closer you get to a location, the less accurate the app becomes. Below are two photos (sorry for the blurriness) with me standing directly in front of a Subway and Starbucks. Their labels appear somewhat accurately from a distance of about a mile away, but once when you get within a couple hundred yards, their locations are way off.

Yelp Augmented Reality Subway

Yelp Augmented Reality Starbucks

Yelp is a free download in the iTunes App Store.