Augmented reality is an immersive mesh that allows the user to visualize information technology. Data is fed in real time and allows the user to see their surroundings with added layers of information – maps, directions, 3D models, videos, articles, events, news, locations, addresses, historic information, etc.
The practical applications that this technology has are many. In the early days when this technology was only a product of someone’s imagination, many representations in sci fi movies, video games and cartoons often showed the user of this technology brandishing a sort of visor, that would allow them to see the world in a much more enhanced manner, constantly providing them with valuable calculations and information about their environment, that would allow them to act in a more efficient manner while giving them groundbreaking decision making capabilities.
Right now as an emerging technology that is still in early prototype stages but it projected to blow up within the next decade and become a regular household technology or form of media as is cell phones, the internet, TV and personal computer, augmented reality apps have been developed, many in open source format, that allow the user to have a glimpse or “taste” of the technology’s capabilities.
One such app available on the Google Play Store is Augment, that allows the visualization of 3D CAD models to be projected through the user’s phone into the user’s surroundings, so the user can see things that aren’t there.
This technology has many implications, including:
- Architectural design and construction projects – Allowing foremen and project managers to organize construction workers and synchronize work activities between various types of engineers
- Urban design and planning – Gives city planners the ability to visualize a model of a city in real time, that allows them to experience a realistic scale and size, and can give information in regards to soil types, and give valuable insights into infrastructure development, architecture, construction, roads, aesthetics, civil engineering, utilities planning and many other matters
- Retail management – Can allow store managers to visualize a store display, organize products or locate products that have been misplaced or are in the wrong section, therefore reducing shrinkage
- Emergency management operations – Police, firefighters, rescue workers and emergency medical services alike will be able to gain information as needed, in order to better serve clients, or be able to see through blizzards, dust storms, fog and other types of adverse weather conditions, into the woods or the sea, to better locate those that are lost and stranded, or aid a police officer during a manhunt of a suspect that is on the run
- Social interaction – In lieu of video calling applications that have quickly become widely used, such as Skype and Facetime, we might be able to see a projected version of the person we are communicating with, through a sort of avatar that is absorbed either by the visor itself and projected onto the screen of the person that they are communicating with, or through another device
As we can see, this emerging technology has many practical applications that will serve a useful purpose. Right now as much capital and resources are being dispersed through numerous technologies and industries, manufacturers and innovators are in no hurry to advance this technology.
Nevertheless, by 2030 it will become a common household technology, a more advanced and streamlined version of the Google Glass, that allows users to access Google’s big data storages, and combining Google Maps information with Google Street View, for example.
Eventually, this technology would grow on to accommodate other forms of human perception – such as smell, taste and touch, to form a more complete representation of that which the program is trying to simulate. For now, the early prototypes have arrived, and are free for public testing and experimentation.
