As mentioned in my last post, Augmented Reality is going to be a game changer in the mobile space. The ability to tie reality and online data based on location and direction is simply amazing – we are just at the tip of the iceberg of what is possible in this realm.

I was flipping through some blogs this morning when I ran across an article on The Next Web about a new Augmented Reality app for the iPhone. It is developed by acrossair and the concept is simple: show where the nearest subway is in realtime based on your location. It looks like an excellent app, and if/when Apple approves the app, hopefully we will see more innovation in this space.

A couple of Sundays ago, I made a small appearance in an article in the Deseret News ( page 2 ). Jason Izatt, of local iPhone notoriety, had referred the writer to me since I help run the iPhone Salt Lake User Group. It was interesting to see what was gleaned from our interview when I finally was told by a friend that they read about me.

As for the app mentioned . . . be it me who develops it – or someone else. A bright star in a world of portable – always connected devices is the future of Augmented Reality.

I attended a training for iPhone App Development, where I was introduced to the kinda complex world of CoreData – which was recently added to iPhone OS 3.0. I was hooked the moment the incredibly smart and local Cocoa Genius Dave Delong mentioned that CoreData is a better way to store data – heck – even Evernote was using it in their next app update!

So I found myself late last night tinkering with writing basic data to CoreData, and for the life of me couldn’t figure out where it was hiding or how to get to it from XCode. Finally I tracked it down hiding inside of a SQLite Database :

/Users//Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications//Documents

Now before Dave Delong has a fit – finding this data comes with a disclaimer: CoreData *is* not SQLite! SQLite is merely the underpinnings of it all . . . but it is *not* SQLite. Phew, all the CocoaHeads can sleep peacefully tonight!

With the proper tools you too can see where the hell your data is going! Personally, I like the Adobe Air App Lita, but I know there are literally dozens of other apps that do this.

I must note . . . sadly . . . that I am not yet a CoreData Expert – it is a trial by fire kinda thing. But I figure I’d leave my notes along the way. Maybe someone will correct my mistakes or drop a tip in the comments *wink* *wink* . . . that way we all win.