Digitally encoded marker-based augmented reality (AR)

A user device adapted for augmented reality (AR) experiences, comprising:

• a camera operating to capture an input image including an image of a marker encoded with data;
• memory storing a digital model of a virtual object;
• one or more components determining a location of the user device and an orientation of the user device;
• a utility extracting the data from the marker image and mapping the digital model to the input image based on the extracted data;
• and
• an AR image generator generating an AR image comprising the input image and an image of the object defined by the digital model positioned and oriented based on the mapping and on at least one of the determined user device location and the determined user device orientation,
• wherein the data from the marker image includes at least one of geographic coordinate data and relative coordinate data,
• wherein the generating of the AR image further comprises registering the at least one of geographic coordinate data and the relative coordinate data to relative coordinates in the AR image, and
• wherein the data from the marker image includes an object identifier and wherein the virtual object is selected based on the object identifier encoded in the marker.

A user device adapted for augmented reality (AR) experiences, comprising:

• a camera operable to capture an input image including an image of a marker encoded with data;
• a component determining a location of the user device;
• a utility extracting at least a portion of the data from the marker image and mapping a digital model to the input image based on the extracted portion of the data;
• and
• an AR image generator generating an AR image comprising at least a portion of the input image and an image of the digital model positioned based on the mapping and on the determined user device location,
• wherein the data from the marker image includes at least one of geographic coordinate data and relative coordinate data usable by the AR image generator in the generating of the AR image, and
• wherein the generating of the AR image further comprises registering the at least one of geographic coordinate data and the relative coordinate data to relative coordinates in the AR image.