A Glyph is a printed symbol used in Augmented Reality applications to allow access to digital content. AR glyphs are often referred to as “Markers” in technical writing and code.
Augmented reality applications that use glyphs take advantage of a hardware camera to recognize the image in the glyph, then align the artwork in relation to that glyph.
For example, an augmented reality iPad application would use the camera in the iPad2 or later to recognize a printed image (the glyph) and then place artwork over that image in the video display of the iPad.
Glyph-based augmented reality applications require possession of the glyph or image. This is one of the key differences between Glyph and GPS based augmented reality.
An example of an augmented reality glyph from a children’s media project. This augmented reality glyph looks like a heavy black square outline around a black and white image of Dusty, a Dogsharks character. From a children's augmented reality application. Note that the artwork features Dusty, a character from Dogsharks. The heavy black outline of a glyph is what the augmented reality application uses to determine how to place the “augmented” artwork in the video. The artwork in the center of the outline is what the augmented reality application uses to determine which artwork to display. This glyph could be placed anywhere (a book, a sticker, a billboard and so on) and anyone possessing the AR application that recognizes the glyph could access the augmented content.
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