There are currently many exciting new developments in the field of virtual & augmented reality. Devices with highly developed 3D sensors not only make it possible to determine the exact position and create a digital model of the surroundings, but can also understand the environment and interact with it in an intelligent way. This opens up many new application possibilities that will certainly have a massive impact on our use of mobile devices on construction sites in the future.
Here are two highlights that I've stumbled across in the last few weeks:
http://structure.io/ - The Structure Sensor for Apple devices was only recently officially launched and is currently available from iPad 4 for 499$ including accessories. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to try it out yet, but the product video on the website is impressive and does indeed give the iPad "superpowers" as promised by the developers. The video from last year in which the product was announced is also worth watching (Youtube-link).
https://www.google.com/atap/projecttango/ - Google's Project Tango is still in the development phase and is not based on a hardware add-on for existing devices, but is planning a completely new line of devices with integrated sensor technology. There is also a detailed video on the website in which the features and possible areas of application are presented. Project Tango has already made the rounds of the blogs in the last few days (click here for the entries by Luke and Oliver) and definitely promises a completely new generation of mobile devices.
Conclusion: It remains exciting in the 3D world!