AR Isn’t Just About Gaming

Is there more to Augmented Reality (AR) than gaming apps?

XR, VR, MR… AR? Same different things, right?

Yes… and no! Depending on whether you’re a person simply trying to use a tech, or a developer trying to refine ideas and products, all these extended reality (XR) technologies are related and connected, and yet separate.

Their labels are also indicative of them being individual segments in their own rights: Augmented Reality (AR), despite its common association with other XR segments such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR), has enough different characteristics to really be a unique interactive experience of reality on its own.

Here’s the 1-liner: VR is full immersion in a virtual environment, MR is interaction with both real and virtual environments, AR is enhancement of the real world with virtual objects.

And that AR definition is also a simple way to describe what the OVR platform does: it enhances your real world environment with a virtual layer of digital objects.

Got it. So, another gaming app with Smart Glasses!

It’s quite natural that AR is associated with gaming. It was, after all, a global gaming phenomenon called Pokemon Go that was the breakthrough app to really propel AR into mainstream consciousness, and still the most recognized example of AR in practice.

But as direct as that app was in tapping into the curious human nature to look for new things, the AR aspects of that game really drew out the human interactions and engagements of sharing, connecting and engaging with each other, all atop a layer on a real world they recognized!

And, as that watershed app showed, you don’t necessarily need a specialized device like Google’s Smart Glasses to experience AR. A modern smartphone’s camera for visuals, clock for time, gyroscope for orientation, and GPS for location is typically all you need for AR — it’s certainly all you need to experience our OVR platform.

You might also be surprised to know that AR isn’t just confined to gaming apps. In fact, games are only a small part of a growing range of useful applications of AR tech.

AR exploration: From Medicine to Military

The field of AR has is helping researchers push new boundaries in many industries old and new. Here are just some of their known applications:

1. Medicine

Since even the mid 1990s, surgeons have been using AR as visual and training aid for surgery, by collecting 3D datasets of patients in real time via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed topography (CT) and ultrasound imaging. Students at UNC Chapel Hill were able to perform breast tumor biopsies with this tech. (Durlach and Mavor, “Virtual reality: Scientific and technological challenges”, National Academy Press, 1995).

2. Aviation

In 1994, Boeing’s Technology Reinvestment Program commissioned the use of AR prototypes to help engineers on the factory floor assemble complex wire bundles in aircraft electrical systems. (Tuceryan et al, “Annotating real-world objects using augmented reality”, Proceedings of Computer Graphics International, 1995).

3. Military

No stranger to the use of emergent technology, the military sector’s most recognizable use of AR in popular fiction is probably in the use of real-time overlays in the heads-up display (HUD) of fighter jets.

Today, AR developers are creating the first prototypes to introduce modern warfare to the US Army soldiers on the battlefield, with devices such as Tactical AR HUDs in helmets… think Google Glasses + Night Vision goggles!

OVR’s Decentralized World-Scale AR platform

World-Scale: For us at OVR, these examples are demonstrative of how we can use computer-generated audio and visuals to enhance and produce interactive experiences within a reality-based environment.

The OVR app sees itself as the first content browser where the user does not merely choose what to experience but immerses themselves in all possible experiences based on location, as submitted by the world. We believe that this method of delivering a unified world augmented with enhancements, can derive new value never thought of before from over 1.6 TRILLION lands to explore.

Decentralized: We adopt an open source philosophy with our platform, encouraging contributions from the entire OVR global community to help the platform grow. This model of mutual ownership released the platform to be independent of its creators.

OVRLands will also be freely tradeable among users in a decentralized fashion via a marketplace system called OVROwner. Once operational, OVRLand owners can decide what kind of experience the user will receive once they enter into their owned spaces.

New Lands are Waiting to be Claimed

All this and more are coming, but first, these new lands must be claimed. Don’t forget, the OVR app is now available for download and participation in the OVR Rewards Campaign for early adopters! For more details, read our announcement post on the OVR Rewards launch.

About OVR

OVR is a cutting edge AR platform powered by the Ethereum Blockchain. OVR makes it possible for users provided with a mobile device or a smart glass to live interactive augmented reality experiences customized in the real world. OVR can be defined as a new standard in augmented reality where geographical experiences are based on user’s position.

Website: https://www.ovr.ai/#intro

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