A co-located collaborative augmented reality application

This paper presents results from a study on using an AR application to support collaborative command and control activities requiring the collaboration of three different civil service organisations. The technology is used to create a common ground between the organisations and allows the users to interact, plan resources and react to the ongoing events on a digital map. The AR application was developed and evaluated in a study where a forest fire scenario was simulated. Participants from the involved organisations acted as command and control teams in the simulated scenario and both quantitative and qualitative results were obtained. The results show that AR can become a useful tool in these situations in the future.