I love train journeys, they are great places to lazily watch the world go by, think about your destination and sometimes dream of imaginary worlds, staring out of the train window and imagining different people, creatures or objects gliding or running alongside the landscape.

These thoughts and dreams become true thanks to Japanese audiovisual collective Salad. With their project “Touch the Train Window!”, using a Kinect/GPS tracking/projector/iPhone/openFrameworks (for the geek travelers who understand this digital language), and their childish and playful imagination, they allow us to tap on a train window to make objects magically appear in the passing landscape. In the video above, the passengers wave their hands on the window to create hot air balloons, silhouettes of children flying kites, planes, and cars which appear in real-time.

Train journeys are going to become unforgettable moments. And beyond the magical and dream aspect, travelers of the future are going to be able to play interactive games—or overlay information about the landscape outside—on train windows using augmented reality. Everything is changing.

Maéva

via The Creators Project