Hidden Safari Mobile feature reveals augmented reality capability

Occipital, the company behind the grand app recently profiled by TNW, 360 Panorama, has discovered something new and exciting contained within the Safari Mobile Browser.

To use what Occipital’s discovered note that you’ll need an iPhone or iPod Touch with iOS 4.2 and gyroscope support to see the new mobile Safari magic.

What you’ll see is something, as far as our research can determine, which has never before been experienced in a mobile browser.

What is it exactly?

Occipital has uncovered a little known feature that only appeared with the release of Safari Mobile 4.2.  The feature involves using HTML and gyroscope support for panorama viewing right inside Safari Mobile 4.2+.  It’s an AR-like experience right through the built-in browser.

Super neat and here’s what you can do with the feature, now live, when you visit http://occip.it/pt3dmqna from Safari’s Mobile browser:

After you capture a panorama with the 360 Panorama app, one can upload the picture, getting the URL to view the experience in Safari Mobile.  In essence, the raw jpeg image files are hosted on either TwitPic or yFrog after a user uploads a panorama through 360 Panorama.

After launching the URL in Safari Mobile, one will see “Gyro ON” and simply by moving your phone in any direction, you can have a complete panoramic experience using the photo you’ve captured.  Moreover,  experiences can be viewed on TwitPic, or the location of the experience using Apple’s “Maps” app.

Absolutely incredible.

As for 360 Panorama, Vikas Reddy, Co-Founder of Occipital, provided us with the following stats on the app’s growth since its update:

Uncovering an amazing new Safari Mobile feature and incredible stats for a fantastic app, 360 Panorama.  Occipital is on the rise and you’ll definitely want to check out today’s latest release.