The concept of “hyperlinking reality” certainly has a certain sci-fi ring to it, but that doesn't mean that it's not a reality. European researchers managed to create one of the most innovative and ground-breaking image recognition systems in the world, comprising of cameras mounted on special devices. The cameras basically identify the buildings, streets or monuments people are looking at, and display related on-screen information about them, via the use of hyperlinks.

MOBVIS project coordinator, Lucas Paletta, says that “This is not a mass-market application; it is an industrial application that could immeasurably improve the quality of mapping data, by including qualitative information, while at the same time making it more accurate and economic. Co-operation is already established for running feasibility studies to test various concrete commercial services.”

Tele Atlas, a partner company in the European Union-funded project, currently employs over 50 vans, which it uses to travel the world and take pictures of various cities. Basically, what the vans do is roam all the streets in a city, and take pictures with all 6 on-board cameras each of them possesses. Once they map the most important and traveled parts of the world and create a preliminary database, they will then be joined by others, to continuously expand the number of cities and monuments it recognizes.

Applications in commercial and industrial enterprises are virtually endless, manufacturers say, because the MOBVIS system can be used for everything from mapping touristic objectives to interpreting mobile mapping images. Tele Atlas' vans work closely with GPS systems, to ensure that the pictures the system identifies are double-checked for their position on the globe.

Mass applications are to follow, although not in the immediate future. But EU representatives say that the system is simply too good and useful not to be implemented on a wide scale. Already, giant names in the software and hardware industry got acquainted with the technology. These names include Google, Microsoft and Nokia, among others. All have expressed great interest in the system, and pledged to monitor its development closely.