{"id":30,"date":"2012-11-24T03:22:10","date_gmt":"2012-11-24T03:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/ar\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2013-01-30T01:32:30","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T01:32:30","slug":"related-standards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/ar\/related-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"Related Standards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is an overview of the key standards that are enabling the Augmented Web<\/strong>.\u00a0 The standards listed on this page are capable of running inside some version of a standard web browser from one of the mainstream web browser vendors today.<\/p>\n

Geolocation<\/strong>
\nThe W3C Geolocation Working Group<\/a> publishes the Geolocation API<\/a> which “defines an API that provides scripted access to geographical location information associated with the hosting device<\/em>” (e.g. mobile phone).\u00a0 The Geolocation API is now widely supported<\/a> by almost all mainstream desktop and mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Device Orientation<\/strong>
\nThe\u00a0W3C Geolocation Working Group<\/a> also publishes the Device Orientation API<\/a> that “provides information about the physical orientation of a hosting device<\/em>“.\u00a0 The Device Orientation API is now widely supported<\/a> by almost all the mainstream mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Device Motion<\/strong>
\nThe\u00a0W3C Geolocation Working Group<\/a> also publishes the Device Motion API<\/a> that “provides information about the physical motion of a hosting device<\/em>“.\u00a0 The Device Orientation API is now widely supported<\/a> by almost all the mainstream mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Canvas Element<\/strong>
\nSection 4.8.10 of the HTML5 specification<\/a> introduced the Canvas Element<\/a> which “provides scripts with a resolution-dependent bitmap canvas, which can be used for rendering graphs, game graphics, or other visual images on the fly<\/em>“.\u00a0 The Canvas Element is now almost universally supported<\/a> by both desktop and mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

WebGL<\/strong>
\nThe Khronos Group<\/a> publishes the WebGL specification<\/a> which “is a cross-platform, royalty-free web standard for a low-level 3D graphics API based on OpenGL ES 2.0, exposed through the HTML5 Canvas element as Document Object Model interfaces<\/em>“.\u00a0 WebGL is almost universally supported by desktop browsers with growing support on mobile browsers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

X3D Graphics<\/strong>
\nThe non-profit Web3D Consortium<\/a> produces Extensible 3D (X3D) Graphics, the international standard for real-time 3D communication on the Web.\u00a0 “The X3D Working Group is considering and consolidating multiple proposals to add AR extensions to X3D<\/a>.\u00a0 The AR Roadmap for X3D<\/a> is expected to be further harmonized with the fundamentally important work of X3DOM<\/a>, the Declarative 3D Community Group<\/a>, and ISO SC 24 Working Group 9<\/a> efforts to support an Augmented Reality Continuum Reference Model (ARRM).\u00a0 The Web3D Consortium is also collaborating on this with the OGC<\/a>,\u00a0Khronos Group<\/a> and ARStandards.org<\/a>.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Web Workers<\/strong>
\nThe W3C Web Application Working Group<\/a> publishes the Web Worker API<\/a> which “allows Web application authors to spawn background workers running scripts in parallel to their main page. This allows for thread-like operation with message-passing as the coordination mechanism<\/em>“.\u00a0 Web Workers are now very widely supported<\/a> across both desktop and mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Web Sockets<\/strong>
\nThe W3C Web Application Working Group<\/a> publishes the Web Socket API<\/a> which “enables Web pages to use the WebSocket protocol (defined by the IETF<\/a>) for two-way communication with a remote host<\/em>“.\u00a0 Web Sockets are now very widely supported<\/a> across both desktop and mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Audio Element<\/strong>
\nThe W3C Audio Working Group<\/a> publishes the Audio Element<\/a> which “represents a sound or an audio stream<\/em>“.\u00a0 It was introduced in section 4.8.7 of the HTML5 specification<\/a>.\u00a0 The Audio Element is now almost universally supported<\/a> by both desktop and mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Video Element<\/strong>
\nSection 4.8.6 of the HTML5 specification<\/a> introduced the Video Element<\/a> which “is used for playing videos or movie<\/em>“.\u00a0 The Video Element is now almost universally supported<\/a> by both desktop and mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Web Audio<\/strong>
\nThe W3C Audio Working Group<\/a> publishes the Web Audio API<\/a> which is a “high-level JavaScript API<\/acronym> for processing and synthesizing audio in web applications. The primary paradigm is of an audio routing graph, where a number of AudioNode objects are connected together to define the overall audio rendering. The actual processing will primarily take place in the underlying implementation (typically optimized Assembly \/ C \/ C++ code), but direct JavaScript processing and synthesis<\/a> is also supported<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

Typed Arrays<\/strong>
\nThe Khronos Group<\/a> publishes the Type Array API<\/a> which provides “interoperability with native binary data. It defines a generic fixed-length buffer type, as well as accessor types that allow access to the data stored within the buffers<\/em>“.\u00a0 Typed Arrays can now be used in a wide range of contexts<\/a> and have become the universal binary container within the web platform.\u00a0 Typed Arrays are now very widely supported<\/a> across both desktop and mobile browsers.<\/p>\n

Media Capture and Streams<\/strong> (formerly known as getUserMedia)
\nThe W3C WebRTC Working Group<\/a> and Device APIs Working Group<\/a> working together as the Media Capture Task Force<\/a> jointly publish the Media Capture and Streams API<\/a> which “defines a set of JavaScript APIs that allow local media, including audio and video, to be requested from a platform<\/em>“.\u00a0 Media Capture and Streams has good support in leading edge desktop and mobile web browsers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WebRTC<\/strong>
\nThe W3C WebRTC Working Group<\/a> publishes the WebRTC specification<\/a> which defines a “set of ECMAScript APIs in WebIDL to allow media to be sent over the network to another browser or device implementing the appropriate set of real-time protocols, and media to be received from another browser or device<\/em>“.\u00a0 WebRTC is not yet mainstream but is very quickly gaining broad support<\/a>.\u00a0 In fact Ericsson have already released a WebRTC Mobile Browser<\/a> you can download right now.<\/p>\n

NOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n