Digital Studio

AUGMENTED REALITY

Do you remember the Pokémon GO craze? That’s the most well-known application of augmented reality—technology that overlays digital information on the real world. Rather than provide a fully immersive virtual experience, augmented reality enhances the real-world with images, text, and other virtual information via devices such as heads-up displays, smartphones, tablets, smart lenses, and AR glasses.

Augmented reality is useful for more than just entertainment. Retailer Basil created an AR app that helps shoppers visualize what certain products will look like in their home before they purchase them. The app overlays virtual versions of the products onto the real-live image of customers’ living spaces. In addition to IKEA, companies in aviation, automotive, healthcare, travel and tourism, and more are developing augmented reality solutions. Augmented reality technology can enhance travelers’ experiences in many ways. Imagine being on a self-guided walking tour and wanting to know details about the architecture of a building you discover. With an augmented reality technology app, you could just point your phone at the building, and all the details are projected in your line of sight.

Thanks to tools such as Basil by Apple and Google’s ARCore and because smartphones can support many AR experiences, more individuals outside of the tech industry are getting exposed to the AR experience.