Navigating The Cities with Smart Contact Lenses

23 Aug 2024

XPANCEO

All kinds of navigation apps have gained immense popularity among different users - from tourists and car drivers to pedestrians. Recently, navigation technologies have been enhanced with Augmented Reality (AR) features. Now, let's push the boundaries and explore how navigation might evolve with the use of smart contact lenses.

Enhanced Navigation Assistance Beyond The Car:

Smart contact lenses equipped with Augmented Reality (AR) can serve as an intuitive navigation tool, offering real-time directions and guidance – all without the need for a dedicated display. While car navigation relies on a dashboard, pedestrians and cyclists don't have this luxury. We all know how different the experience can be when referring to a phone on the move compared to having a map in front of you while driving. Imagine walking through a bustling city, and with a simple glance, virtual arrows and overlays guide you towards your destination. Whether it's navigating unfamiliar streets or finding the shortest route, these lenses can offer a hands-free and seamless navigation experience.

Indoor Navigation:

Traditional navigation systems often falter in complex indoor environments like shopping malls, airports, or hospitals. Smart contact lenses with AR can bridge this gap by utilizing indoor mapping and positioning technologies. Users can effortlessly navigate through intricate building layouts, locating specific stores, gates, or departments with ease. This technology could also help recognize a car’s actual position and direction on narrow streets and around tight corners, where satellite-based navigation often struggles.

Points of Interest and Contextual Information:

AR-enabled smart contact lenses can overlay useful information about points of interest as you move around, adding a new layer of exploration and discovery to your surroundings. But it's not just about sightseeing – information about congestion, transport delays, air quality, noise levels, road closures, potential hazards, and more can be crucial for daily commuters.

Accessibility:

One of the most significant benefits of smart contact lenses with AR for navigation is their potential to enhance the mobility and independence of visually impaired individuals. These lenses could provide audio cues, haptic feedback, or visual overlays to assist in navigating unfamiliar environments, helping avoid unforeseen obstacles that traditional map-based navigation might miss – such as road repairs or abandoned rental bikes and scooters.

Integration with Smart Infrastructure:

As cities become smarter and more interconnected, smart contact lenses with AR can integrate with smart infrastructure systems. Information like traffic signals, public transportation schedules, and bike-sharing availability can be displayed in real-time, and users could interact with them more seamlessly: a button-activated traffic light could respond to your lingering presence on the sidewalk, a rental bike or car could be unlocked with a glance, or a transport ticket could be purchased or activated as you board a train or bus. It's easy to see how what starts as 'navigation' can extend to a range of broader applications that help you interact with the world around you. As urban planning shifts towards less car-centric, more walkable cities, providing pedestrians and cyclists with these extra tools to ease their journeys becomes an increasingly important market.