Third surface: an augmented world wide web for the physical world

The ubiquitous use of Augmented Reality (AR) applications is dependent on an easy way of authoring and using content. Present systems depend on specific authoring tools or content delivery systems that provide a limited amount of freedom and content ownership to the author compared to the possibilities of the World Wide Web (WWW). Third Surface is a system that allows the user to publish and use WWW content saved on personal HTTP servers for augmented reality applications in the physical environment. The contribution of this work is a system that allows a web developer to post location-based augmented reality content and AR marker on one's own HTTP server. A Global Location Service (GLS) provides a browsing application with location-based URLs that link the browsing application to content, AR markers, and data for the right positioning of content in the augmented reality interface. The Third Surface has three advantages compared to other concepts. It is globally scalable able to millions of users. The interactive possibilities for developers and users are the same as for the WWW. The developers are in charge of their own content distribution.