Everywhere around us, there are already signs of the unexpected. Pokémon Go can be the first step into the new generation of smartphone games, while the Facebook acquisition of Oculus Rift is another good omen for the fantastic future we are headed to. The power of augmented reality is large, and yet it is not used to its full capacity in this present day.
However, this article will cover the possibilities of augmented reality from which our society can beneficiate greatly in our quest to evolve from the ordinary.
Augmented Reality
First off, what is an augmented reality? Imagine that you are in a car, with all the windows opaque. There is no way you can see outside the car, except with the help of the electronics in your car. The video cameras are recording in real time the surroundings which are displayed on the inside screens, the GPS gadget is sending you precise distance numbers, while the car’s computer is giving additional information, like the weather prognosis or traffic predictions.
All these gadgets are working together to help you achieve your goal in a better and more efficient way than with no help at all. And this pretty much sums up the picture and benefit of augmented reality. The world of business and personal tasks are already upgrading to the digital world of online storage which seems to be the start point of incorporating digital extensions into real life.
1. Digital Marketing
There is one step left to be conquered by the present digital marketing. The field where online marketing campaigns can’t beat the real shops in the probing. Let’s say you want to buy a couch. Well, that couch can look so much bigger in the pictures of its online official website. The marketing team wants you to notice all the details of that couch, so a little magnification is applied. However, once you receive the couch from the delivery team, you might be taken by surprise by its real dimensions.
However, with the augmented reality, digital marketing can bring the full shopping experience right from your home. With the use of the webcam from your gadgets, the websites will analyze your figure as well as the surroundings to make the best product suggestions to fit your needs.
So, in the example with the couch, you can point the space you want to place the new couch, and the websites will not only come up with the best products, but you will be able to actually see the projection of the couch and how it can fit in your home.
2. Travel Sites
One more feature that used to be completely owned by science fiction movies has now high possibilities to propel itself into reality. The augmented reality reviews in the city. While you are walking down the new streets of the country you are visiting, imagine you will be able to see window projections in front of any store with reviews from travel guide websites, like TripAdvisor, Gogobot or TripExpert.
As the consumers are shifting their decision making on the power of authority of the customer’s reviews, marketing campaigns are no longer holding the higher ground as they used to. Simply seeing the benefits of the local restaurants that don’t enjoy the recognition of the international restaurant chains but have amazing traditional dishes, will turn the trips into genuine local experiences. Augmented reality can be activated in the proximity of the travelers and instantly display the main reason you should give the pub, bar, restaurant, hotel, shop or museum a chance.
3. Social Media
Social platforms have as their main goal the encouragement of relationships no matter the limits of time and space. The online world has helped a lot to close the gap between cultures and create a more compact and supporting world. However, social media as it is today has still a lot of room for improvement.
Augmented Reality can project not only the texts over the continents but also the other ingredients that are the foundation of communication. The non-verbal ways through which we learned to express ourselves like facial expressions and paralanguage (defined by intonation, rhythm, tempo or stress) consists up to 90% of a conversation. The same sentence can express irony or an honest appraisal depending on the tone of the communication. This is the weakness of today’s social media. Chats are functioning only with the use of words and dissimulations like emoticons. However, the AR can make a real difference in the way we use social platforms to communicate with each other.
Facebook has already acquired Oculus Rift, and it is one step closer to the future of social media. Whether you will be able to project your best friend who moved to the other corner of the world right in the living room or let the augmented reality to catch your facial expression and transcribe it into the chat for others to better understand you, it is just a matter of data.
4. The Entertainment World of Movies
After the outrageous success of Pokémon GO, which uses the geolocation API to turn the reality into a game, the world of movies is shifting its interest in the same direction. The latest upgrade of the cinema was the 4D film, whose water drops, wind or vibrations can sometimes disrupt the viewing experience rather than improve it. However, augmented reality can be the perfect fit for the future of the movie industry.
The Twentieth Century Fox’s Fox Innovation Lab is already researching the use of the HoloLens in the advantage of a movie. There is no official news yet, but we can only imagine the goosebumps of the impact of AR and films. The action will not be limited to the screen only, but it will take place around us. The beloved main characters will be able to come to life in real sizes, and we will feel that we are participating in the plot.
All in all, Augmented Reality seems to be the golden ticket to a brighter more interactive future. The world of entertainment and useful information within the reach might be the next evolutionary step in modern society, and the AR is just the beginning.
Author Bio:
Harrisson Dawson is a full-time writer, passionate about how business and technology bind. He specializes in SaaS Solutions and Cloud computing.
