Welcome to the Past

It’s all fine and dandy to tour a ruined castle. Yes, it’s sorta romantic, and if you have a great imagination, you can kinda envision what it might have looked like if there were a wall over there and a tapestry over here.

Now, though, you'll be able to use augmented reality (AR) on your handheld to re-create the past — right here, and right now. That right: You can augment your reality with the click of an iPhone!

According to Science Daily, this nifty new piece of technology called iTacitus can bring it all to life, right before your eyes. Among other things, the system can overlay images of things past onto an image of a real ruin, so the visitors can actually envision the “olden days.” It can provide annotation based on your special interest — describing the people, the history, the culture or the science of a period or place.

Perhaps coolest of all, it can add sound to the picture, helping to re-create a multisensory past.

Of course, iTacitus also offers a variety of cool services such as trip planning, restaurant finding and GPS location. And it will all be available for a low, low cost. You'll get the application for free, and then pay for individual guides at sites of interest.

Will the iTacitus mean the end of the gallery guide as we know it? I’m somehow guessing the answer is “no” — unless you plan to glue your iPhone to your scrapbook!

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng