Fine-grain placement and viewing of virtual objects in wide-area augmented reality environments

Abstract

Provided herein are exemplary embodiments directed to systems and methods of receiving a reference origin, the reference origin including a first longitude, a first latitude and a first altitude above sea level, receiving a point of interest, the point of interest including a second longitude, a second latitude and a second altitude above sea level, and receiving an updated reference origin, the updated reference origin comprising a third longitude, a third latitude and a third altitude above sea level. Further exemplary embodiments include associating digital data with the point of interest.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving an initial location, the initial location including GPS coordinates of a client device, an altitude above sea level of the client device and an offset from the altitude above sea level of the client device;   creating by the client device a virtual linear coordinate reference system based on the initial location;   receiving a current course location of the client device, the current course location including new GPS coordinates;   calculating a world offset in the virtual linear coordinate reference system using the current course location and relative offset from the current course location, wherein the world offset is relative to the initial location;   receiving a first 3D digital media object associated with the initial location and the world offset, the first 3D digital media object located at a fixed position within an augmented reality space; and,   viewing through a viewport on a client device the first 3D digital media object placed in the augmented reality space, the first 3D digital media object remaining in the fixed position within the augmented reality space while moving the client device in a real-world setting.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the moving of the client device in the real-world setting including moving around the first 3D digital media object that remains in the fixed position. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first 3D digital media object was placed in the augmented reality space by a third party. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first 3D digital media object was placed in the augmented reality space by a user of the client device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising a user of the client device placing a second 3D digital media object relative to the first 3D digital media object. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising a third party placing a second 3D digital media object relative to the first 3D digital media object. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the initial location and the current course location is estimated using the new GPS coordinates and data from at least one additional sensor. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein at least one of the initial location and the current course location is estimated by fusing the new GPS coordinates and the data. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the at least one additional sensor includes any one or more of an accelerometer and a barometer. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising filtering at least one of the initial location and the current course location. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the filtering includes applying a Kalman filter.