Why is 2020 the year of AR?

The first pioneer of augmented reality was Virtual Fixtures, developed in 1992, but its mainstream presence has only begun to become frequent in the last few years.

In 2017, Google and Apple, the two market-leading computing corporations, launched two competing platforms called AR Kit and AR Core, that are software development platforms making it easier for developers to build augmented reality applications for mobile devices. With the advent of software available to everyone and with the development of tools, AR-based advertising campaigns, products, and everyday uses has paved the way to success. 

Surveys show that the average consumer is more likely to enter a store advertised with augmented reality than one without this fairly new method.  AR spreads faster every day as augmented reality appears on most online platforms daily. Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, you name it, make it available to their users not only to participate in the experience but in the development itself too. 

Anyone can create an AR filter: an individual, an entrepreneur, an organization, a brand, especially since there are many free platforms available online. 

Furthermore, an AR experience shared on Facebook can reach 1.3 billion people, that is an almost unbeatable number for online marketing.

It is a much simpler kind of communication between the sender and the receiver. The consumer prefers AR-based advertising to a video or an image shared by the brand. The simple reason is that it is easier to love experiences in which the transfer of information is personal. It is a plus that makes the recipient feel like the product is their own. 

Photo: Ali Pazani - Pexels

Nowadays, augmented reality is capable of many functions. Its main areas are:

Tracking can track people's faces, hands, bodies, a point around it and insert a 3D object that will be a realistic element of the virtual environment. 

Segmentation separates the background from objects in the foreground. Imagine a filter that projects an entirely different background behind us. 

Interactivity is an essential element of augmented reality itself. Still, we can make further benefit of it with interactive games in which we invite the user to achieve small goals and fulfil adventures. 

To encourage shopping, we can create filters that allow people to try on and try out the products offered for purchase, even from their home.

It is not only in the advertising industry that the application of augmented reality by 2020 has started to be a notable development. 

This year's Augmented World Expo drew developers' attention to new opportunities. 

There was a talk about AR-based navigation equipment. Although we often use Apple and Google navigation devices in our daily lives, one can easily get lost in larger buildings, campuses, shopping malls, hospitals or enormous offices of multinational companies. To overcome this, they began to develop indoor navigation programs. 

We can also expect continuous innovation in the automotive industry. The developers are experimenting with GPS systems that do not require head movements with augmented reality for safe driving. A head-level display will inform the driver of the current direction. 

There is also talk of AR opportunities that are playing an increasingly important role in companies. Although AR glasses are already an existing part of everyday life, their successes have not been as expected. However, innovators see great potential in the use of augmented reality-based headphones and goggles for military, medical, and corporate use. 

Mixed reality can help in perceiving and solving a problem, and the learning process can also become more efficient. 

Artificial intelligence alone is preoccupying humanity, so mixing it with augmented reality is no surprise. We hope that the combined application of this detached, yet existing possibility will throw a significant impact on the development of augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. 

Although we are not yet surrounded by flying cars, retina scanners, or robots, as predicted by sci-fi writers and contemplative people in the past, we cannot fly, teleport from one place to another, travel in time, but with the help of AR and VR now in 2020, maybe we can a little bit.