Augmented reality technology overview for tourism app development

With massive penetration of mobile phones the tourism industry is adopting augmented technology (AR) and apps supported by smartphones to create and provide a memorable and exciting experience to tourists with fun, interaction and learning. In this paper we first introduce the basic AR technology and then review several typical and well-known AR engines/platforms developed by companies and research institutes, focusing on their technical aspects. The challenges and recent development trends and directions are analysed to provide an insight for future research and development of AR technology for tourism and beyond.