5 Industries that can benefit from AR

5 Industries that can benefit from Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is not just for capturing Pokemon in Pokemon Go. There are numerous industries that can benefit by tapping the potential of Augmented Reality. Though Virtual reality is a more advanced technology, it has not been very well implemented due to several reasons. Augmented reality on the other hand combines the virtualization offered by VR and imposes it on real world, giving a more tangible and acceptable technology. This is one reason why it has been gaining a rapid fame recently. VR too is not far behind. The market is crowded with several VR headsets for example that tap the use of VR.

Here are some of the industries that can benefit from the use of augmented reality either at the user end or within the business:

1. Gaming:

Pokemon is one game that made AR more popular than ever before. A more interactive interface that blends real and virtual worlds can take the gaming experience to the next level. To make learning fun, educational games designed with the incorporation of AR would be a great choice. This can allow self-guided learning. A perfect example here is HoloLens. As against VR headsets, this would not disconnect you from the real world and shift you to the virtual world. This can promote more physical interaction, making the player get active even while playing a mobile game.

2. Retail:

Another major application of AR is in the retail industry. For example when you purchase a furniture or home appliance, instead of measuring the area and calculating if it would fit there, an easier way is to view the product in your room through your smartphone. There are online retailers who allow viewing the products in the real world. There are salons with that allow you to try out haircuts virtually before actually getting one. There are several such ways to enhance user experience with AR.

3. Travel and tourism:

WikiTude shows how AR can revolutionize travel and tourism industry. It uses 3D tracking to help you gather information about any new city. The image based search on Google is another good example. If you wish to know more about a specific landmark you could simply use an AR based travel and tourism app to click a picture of it and get extensive information about the same.

4. Real estate:

The application of VR as well as AR is deep in real estate industry. While VR would benefit the builders and architects to a greater extent, end users however can benefit a lot from AR based real estate applications. For examples, if you come across a property ad in real world, if you wish to get more information about the property, instead of finding the agent or the landlord and gathering information, if the property is listed in an AR based real estate database, you could simply click a picture of the property and get more information about the same. You could even see virtual walkthroughs to view inside the house. Once inside the house, be it for modification of the interiors or for placement of furniture etc., the AR apps again come in handy.

5. Medicine and healthcare:

Right from assisting in finding the veins correctly, to viewing symptoms through a patient’s eyes, medicine and healthcare industry can greatly benefit from AR based apps. There are apps on ARnatomy which make learning anatomy easy with the integration of AR. The combination of wearable technology and AR can make tracking and monitoring patients’ health conditions simpler by providing real time data to doctors even when they are physically far away from the patients. AR can also play a role in assisting in complicated surgeries. Projecting X-rays and scan reports on to the body of the patient, a clearer picture of the condition could be comprehended. AR can also have a far-reaching benefit in dental surgeries.
In addition to the above mentioned uses, AR also finds a place in the education industry. It can make classrooms more interactive. Overall, the user experience could be made better with AR.
All you need to use an AR based app is a smartphone or tablet. In some cases an extra wearable device would be used. At this pace, we would soon see a great penetration of AR in almost all the domains in the coming years.