Augmented Reality or AR is an interactive virtual experience in the real environment. Augmented Reality is using our senses (visual, auditory, haptic) to create a surprising experience.
The most common example of the use of this technology is the GPS point. The GPS point will show you a 3D virtual point (you and/or the destination to reach) in a real environment. It is the instant interaction between a virtual world made by computers and the real world.
Augmented Reality, can be displayed on smartphones, tablets, digital screens, an HMD (head-mounted display) or a CAVE. This technology is often mixed with Virtual Reality. They are indeed, quite similar: both use 3D visualization, to immerse their users in a virtual environment. However, virtual reality is recreating the real world into a virtual environment with 3D objects.
AR is an innovative technology, to present objects, exhibitions and more. It gives the possibility to see something before its construction, to visit places, to build objects and see the faults at an early age of the production to save money.
In 2017, the industry market has seen booming this technology. Countless companies sectors, such as gaming, healthcare, education tools, live events, tourism, design architecture saw the value of this solution for their business and offer to their consumers the chance to use it. In tourism, augmented reality includes virtual content to visits and tours to make them authentic!
The European project Aure4rural, is promoting the use of Augmented Reality technology on rural tourism purposes. This project aims at augmenting the visibility of a rural activity through AR and to offer to tourists a new way to discover your activities!
An application will soon be available on Google play to use Aurea4rural’s tools! To know more about this project and use its tools, you can visit Aurea4rural website on http://www.aurea4rural.eu.
Western Europe countries are part of the most influent actors in AR, thanks to the skillful IT developers in the sectors of gaming and healthcare. The solution requires expertise, skills, and specifics tools in virtual animation and creation. It is a powerful and promising virtual solution that is in constant development that could be furthermore implemented in European tourism.