Imagine a virtual world crossed with ours. A world where digital meets reality. Just in case you’ve been living under a very large rock, Pokemon Go is the newest app sensation to blur the distinction between the real world and the digital.
For those uninformed, Pokemon Go is basically a real world treasure hunting game, filled with cute Pokemon for you to “catch ‘em all”. In true augmented reality (AR) fashion, players navigate with a camera view that augments the real world with digital graphics, overlays, and of course the friendly neighbourhood Pikachu.
AR is a relatively new technology. We hear lots of things about it’s counterpart virtual reality (VR) but in our opinion, we’re still a long ways away from mainstream VR. With Pokemon Go, it may have just proved the near future is actually in AR.
The possibilities of AR are limitless. Imagine a world where we point our phones and we instantaneously see a visualisation of the object. With the debut of AR to the masses, what could we very well see in the near future?
Educational facilities could benefit a lot from AR technology. Imagine scanning a QR code at a zoo signpost and then seeing a breakdown of a polar bear’s diet, natural habitat, and prey? Or being able to interact with fossils and dinosaurs without leaving the classroom.
Australia’s multi billion dollar tourism industry could benefit as well. Imagine integrating a travel app with Google Maps and augmenting reality with digital markers of cafés, bars, and other attractions? Tourist could travel to Sydney, open the camera and visually see how to get to the Opera House and review which cafés they wanted to check out along the way. Pokemon Go has a very similar function, providing us neat views of notable locations. Imagine this effect on the tourism industry.
It’s not often we experience new technology enter mainstream media with such proliferation. Pokemon Go basically proved that an entire new dimension of technology is actually viable for us to explore as a business tool. If we can weave augmented reality into viable business strategies, we could experience a new wave of technology literally evolve right before our eyes.