Unbelievably Cool Ways Augmented Reality Is Being Used by Businesses

You’ve probably heard of augmented reality’s more well-known cousin — virtual reality. But, in many ways, augmented reality online is way cooler, and way more applicable to our everyday lives.

Unlike virtual reality that places you in a completely new, virtual environment, augmented reality combines aspects of virtual reality with your actual surroundings. You know exactly how this works if you’ve played the popular game Pokémon GO.

Augmented reality that’s connected to the internet can make gaming a lot more fun, but it has some unbelievable applications for businesses of all kinds. Here are just a few examples.

See How Something Will Look in Real Life Before You Buy It

Augmented reality is integrating itself into the lives of businesses and everyday people in the consumer sector. We all want to make informed decisions, but with internet shopping, this is proving to be difficult. Augmented reality is changing all this.

Businesses are enabling you to see a wide variety of products in unique ways before you buy:

• Virtually arrange furniture in your living room before you make a purchase
• Upload a picture of yourself and try on clothes that you want to buy online
• See what a floor plan will look like on your property before you start building

Virtual Tours and Interactive Maps

One of the coolest ways augmented reality is finding its way into our lives is through virtual tours and interactive maps.  The Detroit Institute of Arts is just one of many locations that is enhancing the visitor experience with augmented reality.

Visitors to the museum can use their mobile devices to X-ray an Egyptian mummy, or view a piece of ancient artwork exactly how it looked when it was first created.

Virtual tours are popping up all over the place and can be found in:

• Zoos
• Art, history, and science museums
• Hotels
• Outdoor historical tours
• Sculpture parks
• And more

Employee Training and Education

Customer-facing applications are a great way for companies to enhance their relationship with their customers, but not all augmented reality applications are created with buyers in mind. Employee training and education will be greatly enhanced by augmented reality as well.

It’s all about creating a hands-on experience, which can be beneficial to many different kinds of businesses and employees. However, this type of training is the most effective for medical professionals and tradesmen. With augmented reality, doctors can practice new surgeries without practicing on an actual patient and electricians can practice techniques to deal with live wires without putting themselves in danger.

That’s not all. Even regular old office jobs can benefit from augmented reality. Specialized training programs can boost engagement, increasing performance after training is over.

There’s no end to all the amazing ways that augmented reality can enhance our lives. Whether you’re playing a mobile game with your children outside or you’re using augmented reality to enhance customer engagement at work, this innovative new technology is sure to change our lives for the better in ways we could never have imagined.