The deadline for phase one of Google’s Android Developer Challenge closed yesterday, and so the entrants are beginning to show off their wares. One of the more eye-catching is Enkin, an augmented reality app for Android which overlays GPS, motion information and other data over a live camera view of a user’s surroundings. As an idea it’s similar to designer Mac Funamizu’s encyclopedia frame concept, using real-time queries of online information to offer users pertinent information about their environment.

Back in 2006 Nokia Research showed a similar concept, adding hyperlinks to objects identified by a modified cellphone and GPS device. That used accelerometers to switch between an overhead-view mapping mode, when the cellphone was held horizontally, and a live, tagged view of the local area when held vertically. However while many of Nokia’s cellphones now have GPS functionality (often with photo geotagging), they’re yet to include any of the features from this research project.

Enkin of course has the benefit of Google Earth, Google Maps and high-speed data networks to play with, and their early software prototypes look great. While the “live mode”, with its real-time object/building tracking (that could also offer Buddy Beacon-style friend locating), is the eye-catcher, the rest of the mapping looks intuitive enough to use on a mobile device. Anyone who has tried to navigate Google Maps on a standard cellphone probably knows that it can be a frustrating experience.

It’s not, however, the first time augmented reality has been shown on an Android device. Developer Tom Gibara has already demonstrated his Moseycode system, a way in which Android handsets could identify QR codes and overlay information on or around the code itself onscreen.

[Via Enkin augmented-reality for Android: video demo - PHONE Magazine]