In our project we worked with Virtual Reality. It is a huge topic when it comes to collaboration, but some people didn’t hear about it before and maybe sometimes confuse it with Augmented Reality. This article is about the differences between these two technologies to prevent the confusion.
The biggest difference between Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality is that in Virtual Reality the user dives into a whole new world but in Augmented Reality the “real” world is just enhanced and backed with additional information.
Virtual Reality is a self-created form of chosen reality. Therefore it exists.
Virtual Reality allows the user to discover a 360-degree world, view it in every angle and also move and interact. The users have the feeling that they are at a certain location. There are tons of 360-degree videos, pictures and games to view, enjoy and play with. At the moment Virtual Reality is on the transition from a gimmick to a technology with an industrial use case. For Virtual Reality a special technology like a goggle and sometimes also a computer is needed.
Shopping will never be the same
Augmented Reality on the other hand, enriches the real world with detailed information. These information can be displayed as texts, graphics, animations, videos or 3d objects. Another huge difference to Virtual Reality is that the user has to be physically at a location to use the features and not just virtually as in Virtual Reality.
Augmented Reality brings real world objects to life. It is great for imagination with existing objects such as the IKEA App to place furniture in your own room. In the future it will revolutionize the way we buy things because it is capable of completely new levels of information. Augmented Reality can be used with a smartphone or special holography googles. Augmented Reality is also perfect for navigation or tourism where you can give additional information which could be useful for the user.
As a summary, it needs to be clear that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are two completely different technologies with different equipment needed and also different kinds of use cases. Nevertheless, both technologies are pretty exciting and have a massive potential in the future and it will be interesting to see what the next steps are.
