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Who would believe that people across the globe will roam across the streets, water bodies, buildings and everywhere else with their heads inside their phones, the most successful augmented reality(AR) game made the whole world go ga-ga just to catch a few Pokemon. Apple just launched its new AR-enabled iPhone-X and iPhone-8 that will bring AR to millions more. And by the next decade, we’ll not be surprised if our works could be “holoported”, using the AR technology to get in touch with colleagues who are spread across the whole world.

But for the large chunk of the major businesses in the world, AR has put to work already. The factories, construction sites warehouses etc., AR-enabled devices like Google Glass enterprise edition and Microsoft Hololens are providing data to the manpower to their work and fasten the whole process.

The world of virtual reality systems like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive which were highly engaging, AR headgears gives its users to keep a balance between the virtual and real ones. It’s more like mixed reality as you are able to see and interact with the real things while seeing them virtually. This makes it easy for the users to read the technical manuals, access database, and easily watch instructional videos while doing something else.

What Is Augmented Reality?

Have you ever watched a soccer game and seen the yellow line which highlights the distance between the first-down mark and the ball? Think about a tennis player challenging an "out" call and then you see a line pivot towards the mark and a dark circle that actually marks the spot? These are two sporty examples of the use of augmented reality(AR). Some of it dates back to almost 2 decades.

What exactly is AR? It's the ability to integrate the digital data into a real-time experience. Unlike virtual reality(VR), gamers favourite technology, there’s no heavy video headsets to be content with. Smartphones keep swooping with new apps every day.

AR marketing creates an integrated 3-D image of a product with the available digital data. This allows the customers to experience the product closely and personally.

With the new technology and the newest of the apps that have touched every aspect of our lives, AR has expanded and advanced in all fields. Nowadays, it's used everywhere sports, marketing, healthcare, education and loads more Augmented Reality is the future.

Model Citizens

Augmented Reality will be a very effective tool for designers architects, doctors and construction agencies which have already embraced it using building information modelling (BIM) systems.

Building information models allow the construction builders to make 3-D model structures and also put forth the potential conflicts that can arise like the electrical panel the placement of doors and windows etc. even before a stone is laid.

Augmented Reality today allows the doctors to have a look at the patient's x-ray superimposed directly on their body while actually examining the organs from the inside of the body, thus reducing the whole operation time and diagnose reliability.

Another example from the day-to-day modern use of AR is by the Firemen, they get a precise map of the whole building, the stairs, floors and even the gas pipes before they go on to extinguish the fire.

Basically, AR brings the future to you one device at a time.

Mobile Device Management on Steroids

There's always a price to be paid for productivities like these. Organisations that are all set to make AR a part of their work face several daunting technical obstacles.

One of them is bandwidth. Be it be sending sophisticated schematic drawings the One is bandwidth. Sending sophisticated schematic drawings, the CAD files, a video that is shuttling a high amount of data through the air. The present-day Wi-Fi networks will need to be re-architectured to handle the deluge of the packets.

The next big challenge is software development. Presently there are very few off-the-shelf software solutions for the enterprise levels AR work-loads. N several cases, businesses will have to build one for themselves. Most of the present day Augmented Reality development tools are designed for creating virtual environments and games, not the line of business apps.

Managing these devices is another issue that needs to be tackled many of them may also interact with the Internet of things(IOT) sensors which are embedded in the machines and other equipment. This gives rise to new complexities levels to an organisation’s technology portfolio.

Eventually, Augmented Reality gears will also be handled in a similar way as the other mobile devices used today. But presently these gadgets or should we call tech babies are likely to make things easy not only for the companies to deliver a much better product but also for the customer to use it.

Visualizing the Future

AR is in its infancy stage right now. Highly used and useful mobile applications are just entering the market, while the AR is expensive enough for everyone’s pocket and also clumsily looking for use outside the factory floors or maintenance environments.

Technology is improving becoming more customer friendly and also inexpensive for more and more people to use. This makes it easy to make way into the everyday lives of people and the work environments. It is evolving too, AR will be used more for the visualization of the data than to retrieve information.

AR will make it possible for the employees to play along with several different data sets and also explore it from different perspectives.

AR will make an impact on the lives of all all of us in various ways, from doing our daily chores to training, from data retrieval to business intelligence and much more. It will also change how we experience movies, games, advertisement, and more, in several ways which we today can’t even imagine.

Our future will surely be augmented. Let’s tighten the straps on our AR headgears and get ready to dive in.