What is AR?
AR is an interactive experience for the user. They can see objects around them in their real-life environment. It traditionally uses visual and auditory cues to enhance the user’s experience.
Technology like this is readily available on apps people use daily. Apps such as Snapchat use AR to create interactive filters to blur the distinction between what is real and there, and what only appears to be.
How does this fit in with our industry?
AR has already been making waves across the construction industry, demonstrating that it can be used beyond films, games, and entertainment.
It is successfully being used in project planning, as it can measure a space’s physical properties, including height, width, and depth. This data can then be used by construction companies to create 3D models, which will allow them to generate more accurate structures and a better understanding of how the project will work in a space before it is even built. This is especially effective when an AR model is overlaid with what is currently onsite to show how a building might look.
AR can also provide the opportunity for investors and stakeholders to take a virtual walkthrough of the space, visualising how something will look and where it will be placed.
The future of AR
AR technology can also go beyond this to secure the future of the industry, by providing key training and safety before apprentices ever step onto the building site. The more technology integrates with the construction industry, the more attractive it will be as a career choice to the next generation of technologically savvy builders, developers, surveyors and architects.
We look forward to seeing how this technology continues to evolve and finds the means of implementation across our industry, especially as it integrates with construction software to bring building project visions to life.
Image source: Adobe Stock Images
