Do you remember the global impact of Pokémon Go? 

When the AR mobile game was released back in 2016, its impact swept the nation. Suddenly, people all over the world were outside catching Charmanders and Squirtles with their friends. Even when the hype faded, the platform still flourished – gaining a whopping $566M in revenue last year alone. 

Why? Because it’s more than a game. It’s a culture, a community, and a perfect example in showing the promising relationship between physical and digital spaces.

And it doesn’t just stop at Pokémon Go. AR is all around us, and once we realize that, there’s no telling how far it can go. 

Let’s take a deeper dive. 

MORE THAN A HEADSET

When some people hear the term “AR,” an image of Apple Vision Pro’s headset might come to mind. But you don’t need futuristic bling to experience a new reality.   

It’s the Zoom background on a conference call. It’s the latest Instagram filter. It’s the virtual “try on” to determine which Warby Parker glasses look best on your own face. Which leads us to our next point…

A HELPING HAND 

AR has undeniably changed our lives by assisting us in landscapes like retail. Now, you can try on glasses, sneakers, and clothes without even entering a store!  

But it goes a step further. Now AR is being utilized across a variety of industries from healthcare to automotive. 

Here are a few key examples: 

• AR spectacles can project X-rays or CAT scans over a patient's body from previous surgeries to assist a surgeon’s decisions during real-time procedures.  

  
  

• Automotive AR can display projections in front of the windshield of cars, jets, and motorcycles to show information about controls, speed, distance, and elevation.

  
  

• Real estate firms can provide potential home buyers with an interactive view of properties so they don’t have to be there in person. 

EVOKES OUR IMAGINATION

AR takes us to new places. It enhances our reality in a way that adds color, creativity, and happiness to our lives by looking at the world through a whole new lens. 

“AR works within your own space and time, but enhances it by taking you to a whole new world,” said Gradient’s Creative Technologist Pujarini Ghosh, as she sports a Henri Matisse pink room painting as her Zoom background. “And with recent geospatial capabilities like ArCore, we can reimagine spaces on a global scale.” 

THE TAKEAWAY

AR has transcended science fiction. It’s not just a buzzword, or the latest fad. It’s a powerful and helpful tool that has become integrated in our daily lives on a variety of levels. 

And it’s only getting bigger. With Google beginning to integrate augmented reality into Google Maps, we’ll be able to unlock AR outside of social platforms like TikTok and Instagram – and instead, use it in our everyday lives as we navigate around the world. (More to come on this topic!)