After struggling for a number of years to find its place, AR (augmented reality) is now in a period of strong innovation and market development, with a proliferation of use cases across consumer and enterprise markets alike.
According to a new report from Tractica, enterprise use cases are rapidly evolving, using mobile AR on smartphones and tablets, as well as new capabilities in smart glasses. AR is becoming a fixture on the construction jobsite, as a way to view plans and visions of the project before they happen.
The most significant developments have been the advancement of computer vision, the integration of artificial intelligence, and solid thinking around how to leverage AR to produce meaningful end-user benefits.
Where it was once imagined that AR using smartphones and tablets would be the strict purview of consumer use cases, the practicality and the ubiquity of mobile devices have opened legitimate, sustainable markets for enterprise use cases.
Also, smart glasses capabilities have evolved, opening new opportunities in the enterprise space. While assisted reality simply overlays digital information on your vision, mixed reality has positional tracking and depth sensors to provide a more immersive experience, enabling interactions with holographic objects.
These examples of how AR can be used in the field provide multiple opportunities for contractors to use the technology when at the jobsite.
