Augmented reality (AR) is a tool that takes information and makes it visual, so understanding that information is easier. AR makes working with technology a more immersive experience, too.
Users find it easier to understand information about a service or product, and it helps them search for and find the service or product.
A marketer can also more easily find their customers, by understanding them when learning and adapting to what engages them.
You have already been using AR if you have used your phone’s camera to overlay digital content on to your physical surroundings, like those dog ears on your selfie, or checking what a piece of furniture would look like in a room with an app that moves 3-D objects in your space.
Here are five ways that AR can enhance your life:
1. You Can Avoid Getting Lost When Travelling
AR helps explore the world around us. The best way to experience a city is to explore it on foot.
Your smartphone can help you navigate in a place you’ve never been. Point your camera, and a beta feature called Live View will use AR to overlay arrows, so that you know which direction to go in.
No more asking for directions!
2. You Can Engage with the World, Wherever You Are
AR allows you to point your phone at any text or signs in a foreign language, and the Google Translate app will translate it to your language. You can read restaurant menus, or signs warning of danger.
3. Get More Information on What Interests You
AR helps you learn new information. Google Lens allows you to go to an art museum, point your phone’s camera at a painting you fancy, and get more information about the painting, such as the artist and the artist’s life.
4. Fashion Shopping Has Never Been Easier
AR can assist with searches. With a visual recognition tool called Style Match, you can use Google Lens to take a picture of a piece of clothing that you like, and Style Match will suggest shoppable items that are similar from around the internet.
5. Get Style Ideas and Inspiration from Google Lens
AR can give your creativity a helping hand. When you look at an item of clothing on your phone and know that you like it, but you don’t quite know how you should wear it, you can consult Google Lens with the “style ideas” feature.
Say you see a geometric print skirt online that you like. You take a screenshot with Lens in Google Photos and you will be able to see how other people have worn and styled a skirt like it.
Style ideas can also give new life to the wardrobe you already have. If you have something you haven’t worn in a while because you don’t know what to do with it, just point Lens at it, and get inspired by what others have done with a similar article of clothing.
AR is a way to interact with technology that makes things easier for us.