What Does ‘KP9’ Have to do With AR?

Augmented reality technology has come a long way since KP9 jumped into the fold. It’s continually crept up from the waters edge on an evolutionary trail, hellbent on cementing itself as the next mass media craze - and further, continuing its quest to integrate with real life.

At its core, augmented reality is all about innovating, adapting, transforming, and disrupting the ways we’ve interacted with digital content in the past. The ultimate goal of AR is to seamlessly integrate its new tech prowess into the lives of the masses by offering a unique view of the real world, augmented by the perks of creative digital content.

The software exists; augmented reality applications are here and have been generating serious interest from some big names - Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Google. They’ve all dipped their toes in the primordial soup of AR technologies. What we’re waiting on, is the hardware that’ll help make the tech accessible for all in a meaningful way. Think innovative products like Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses or Epson Moverio.

Picture this in your minds’ eye: You’re at a football game and your son or daughter needs to use the restroom in the middle of a play. Classic. You’re wearing your AR sunglasses and you need to know where the closest restroom is, but you’re wondering how long the wait time is going to be to grab a pretzel on the way back. 

You cue up your glasses and take a look around. The arena has invested in augmented reality technology, so you’re greeted with virtual objects in real-time. An icon tells you the closest washroom is a short 45-second walk away. You look down at your feet only to find a yellow trail helping guide you there. You look back at the concession stand and learn there’s an approximate 6-minute wait for pretzels. Perfect. You turn your glasses off, and return your undivided attention to spending an afternoon with your family.

Alternatively, let’s imagine you’re hiking a gorgeous trail on a hot summer day. There’s not a cloud in the sky. You’re enjoying the foliage of the forest, but what you’re really hoping to find is a unique vantage point from which to snap a few killer photographs. 

You cue up those AR glasses and are directed to a site just off the beaten path that offers a great view, low foot traffic, and the ideal spot to break for lunch for a few minutes. You would have walked right past that spot had it not been for AR tech helping you optimize your awareness of your natural environment.

The beauty of this technology is, it creates situational awareness in our everyday lives using interactive digital content and removes some of the guesswork from how we typically behave. The ultimate goal of our work at KP9 is to ensure this profound new digital experience is available to the masses on the smartphones of today, while working tirelessly to build the future of AR experiences for the wearables of tomorrow.

AR has the potential to help us explore our world, helping us benefit from the vastness of available digital content. It disrupts behaviour. It challenges what we think we already know. It has the power to change how we interact with the world around us. That’s powerful stuff.  

So what does the term KP9 have to do with augmented reality?

We named our company after the aurora borealis - the Northern Lights - which occur over our home on Georgian Bay on the Great Lakes. What we typically observe here usually ranks as a KP3-KP5 on Kp-index. These geometric storms are essentially major disturbances of the planet’s magnetosphere, happening when there’s an epic exchange of energy from the solar wind to the space surrounding Earth.

According to Aurora Forecast, the Kp-index describes “the disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field caused by the solar wind. The faster the solar wind blows, the greater the turbulence. The index ranges from 0, for low activity, to 9, which means that an intense geomagnetic storm is underway.” 

Our local systems are regarded as ‘quiet,’ ‘unsettled,’ and ‘active.’ A KP9 is the highest measurable geomagnetic storm, which would cause worldwide disruption, but would also produce the most beautiful auroras of dancing skyward lights. KP9 Interactive aims to do just that - disrupt the content you consume in everyday life and create stunning, impactful content experiences that mean more to the people experiencing them.

Can you predict a massive, global geometric storm? Somewhat yes, but the real allure for KP9 Interactive has been accepting and working with the unknowns; weathering the storm, while creating others. We’re as unpredictable as the dancing Northern Lights, all while relentlessly reminding our industry of the beauty that surrounds us.