What Is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality enhances physical world experiences by overlaying digital information or virtual objects on the environment. First seen as a properly functioning system in the early 1990s, augmented reality use has boomed since the 2010s, when AR devices became more accessible.

Augmented reality technology has many uses, including gaming and entertainment, education and training, marketing, health care, retail, and tourism. The engaging, interactive experiences of augmented reality drive its growing popularity.

Explore what augmented reality is and learn about its advantages and uses. Discover who uses augmented reality, how they use it, and how you can enter this exciting career field. 

Understanding augmented reality 

Augmented reality provides a real-time enhanced (or augmented) view of your environment. Using a tablet, smartphone, or another AR-equipped device, you can add virtual information to your experience. The technology combines tangible objects or places with virtual ones to augment understanding, knowledge, skills, or senses.

Some everyday examples of augmented reality include the camera on AR-enabled devices (such as smartphones, tablets, and AR headsets or glasses), which collect information about an object or place in your environment. The augmented reality program uses that data to determine what information to download to create a part-real, part-digital 3D interface. Then, you can interact with that object or environment using the touchscreen, voice, or gestures.

You may already use AR technology. On any given day, you might:

• See the broadcaster's sketch play over the image of the sports game you’re watching.

• Put a Snapchat filter over your face before sending it to a friend.

• Visit a museum exhibit and scan a QR code to learn more about it.

• Scan your face using an app and try different make-up or hairstyles.

• Use your car's heads-up display (HUD) to look at your windshield to access important information about your driving speed or direction.

Read more: What Is Assistive Technology?

Advantages of augmented reality

Augmented reality enhances the physical world through visuals to heighten engagement and enjoyment across various industries and with varying purposes. For example, learners can immerse themselves fully in the subject matter of their studies. The technology can also help customer-based businesses, from museums to shoe companies, engage with users more effectively. 

Augmented reality supports efficient communication with a user in real-time. At the same time, the technology is accessible to anyone with a smartphone or other AR device, offering a natural and intuitive way to interact. 

Adding animations or other digital information to an environment can help add excitement and engage AR users. Marketers can help consumers get to know their products by sharing animations, videos, or other digital content in the real world. Retailers offering virtual dressing rooms can let shoppers try on more clothes in less time, increasing sales. Students can get hands-on experience with affordable AR simulations available to everyone at once rather than each individual waiting for their opportunity to work on equipment or machines.

AR can even augment sensory experiences. For example, it can provide deaf and hard-of-hearing users with visual cues in their environment and potentially support users with impaired vision through auditory cues in the future.

Types of augmented reality 

The four main types of augmented reality reflect the level of immersion and interactivity users experience. Yet, all four enhance the user’s real-world environment in some way.

1. Marker-based augmented reality uses a visual element called a “marker,” which can take the form of a QR code or image as a reference point. You can call up the relevant digital content to overlay on your screen using a smartphone camera or other AR-enabled device. You might encounter marker-based AR at a natural park when you scan a QR code on a sign and see renderings of the buildings that once existed at that site. 

2. Markerless augmented reality uses natural feature recognition, such as object tracking or geolocation, to overlay digital content onto your real-world environment. Pokemon Go exemplifies this type of AR in creating an immersive and interactive experience without physical markers or QR codes.

3. Projection-based AR casts or “projects” digital content onto physical surfaces, such as windows, floors, or walls, often for advertising or entertainment purposes. In Lego stores, you might use this type of AR to see a 3D rendering of what the kit you purchase will look like when built. 

4. Superimposition-based AR replaces a portion of your real-world view with a digital one. If you have a vehicle with a heads-up display (HUD), which projects speed and navigation directions onto the windshield, you’re using this type of augmented reality. 

What is augmented reality used for?

AR technology has various uses and continues to advance. As augmented reality evolves, its reach also expands, with uses in multiple applications across industries ranging from education to advertising. 

Education and training

Augmented reality can turn passive learning into something much more. For example, it becomes an immersive, active experience—superimposition-based AR trains field crews in maintenance and repair tasks. Technicians can wear an AR-enabled headset that superimposes digital information onto the equipment and provides step-by-step instructions or diagrams as they learn to complete the job. Educational publishers can add QR codes to textbooks for users to call up additional 3D content, and creators of educational apps can use AR to enhance the learning experience. The Human Anatomy Atlas, for example, allows students to explore over 10,000 3D human body models.

Gaming and entertainment

The 2016 release of Pokemon Go, a markerless AR game, demonstrated the tech’s potential for gaming and entertainment. Since then, augmented reality uses have grown to include many applications, helping to mix real-life play with the gaming experience. 

Retail

The IKEA Place app offers an excellent example of AR’s potential use in retail. This markerless AR app uses virtual furniture to allow you to visualize how particular pieces will look in your personal space. The app can map a room and realistically place the digital furniture using your device's camera and sensors. 

Or, if you visit Nike in Paris, projection-based AR shows a digital version of their custom shoe design. 

Travel and tourism

You may have engaged with an AR-enabled museum exhibit. In many museums, visitors can use an AR-enabled device to scan a QR code or marker on an exhibit panel or artifact to see digital content, such as videos, animations, or interactive models, in real-time.

Universal Studios Orlando has AR displays throughout the park, which allow visitors to engage with dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. Many visitors also use AR assistance or 3D maps when navigating destinations or exploring new places.

Health care

Superimposing a digital image, such as a CT or MRI scan, in the surgical environment can help doctors more accurately plan and perform surgeries or other medical procedures. In another example, psychologists used AR bugs to help patients battle their phobias. 

Other applications

The applications of augmented reality continue to expand. AR can lower the production cost as manufacturers can work with and change virtual prototypes before developing physical ones. Manufacturers can also speed up shipping by supplying warehouse workers with AR glasses that help them locate items to be shipped.

Augmented reality vs. virtual reality

Augmented reality enriches user experience with projections of animations, pictures, characters, or renderings into the physical environment. Virtual reality creates an entirely new reality for the user to experience. The user enters a simulated virtual environment that feels real using special headsets, sensors, and gloves. This technology allows someone to virtually experience swimming with whales underwater or walking on the moon. 

While AR has you interacting with computer-generated information and real objects, virtual reality immerses you in a separate, self-contained environment generated by the computer. So, while AR adds to what surrounds you, VR replaces it.

How to get started in augmented reality

Change and growth in the AR industry offer many career opportunities for those who want to work in a high-tech environment. Possible career paths you might pursue include:

• Software engineer or developer

• Graphic designer

• Content developer/strategist

• User experience designer

• Project manager

Essential skills

You can pursue education and certifications in several areas or develop various skills to begin a career in AR. Get an entry-level position by first gaining some of the following skills and knowledge:

• Creative thinking

• UX design skills

• Background in 3D and animation

• Understanding of software development 

• Programming experience with C#, C++, Java, and Swift

• Machine learning 

• Expertise with extended reality (XR)

Education 

Having a bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or graphic design could also help. You’ll also need to demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with a larger team. Other alternatives also exist. The Jobs for the Future partnered with eight community colleges across the US to provide expanded AR training and education, with noncredit options to expand access to all learners. Additionally, you can explore the technology further through online courses to develop more robust skills and knowledge. 

Read more: How to Become a Software Developer Without a Degree

Next steps 

You can build your game development skills by taking Introduction to C# Programming and Unity, provided on Coursera by the University of Colorado.  Or, explore additional emerging technologies by taking Intro to AR/VR/MR/XR: Technologies, Applications, and Issues offered by the University of Michigan on Coursera.