Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality is technology that overlays digital information or images onto a user's view of the real world, finding applications in gaming, retail, and professional training.
Blending digital information directly with a person's real-world view rather than replacing it entirely, this technology gained mainstream attention through a wildly popular mobile game before expanding into far more practical applications.
Overlaying Digital Information on Reality
Augmented reality technology overlays digital images or information directly onto a user's view of the real physical world, distinguishing it from fully immersive virtual reality.
Mainstream Popularity Through Gaming
Augmented reality gained significant mainstream public attention through the enormously popular mobile game Pokémon GO, which overlaid virtual characters onto real-world locations.
Practical Professional Applications
Beyond entertainment, augmented reality has found significant practical applications in fields including retail visualization, industrial training, and medical procedure planning.
Continued Technology Development
Major technology companies continue investing significantly in augmented reality hardware and software development, viewing it as a potentially significant future computing platform.
