Top 12 best applications of VR and AR

We already know in the mobile app the popular game Pokémon GO played by millions is an excellent application of these systems. As of today, AR and VR are no longer only words expressions in the digital world. these technologies go far beyond gaming and entertainment. Companies have incorporated these AV and VR apps into their systems ranging from education, healthcare, and the civil and architectural engineering world.

2021 has been a year for augmented reality and virtual reality. From business applications to gaming usage, these robust technologies have an optimal effect on several industries. The onset of COVID-19 has majorly induced these technologies ratification as most businesses switched to remote work configuration or work from home. The access to applications of augmented reality and virtual reality facilitates businesses and individuals to socialize, work and communicate with others as these technologies can generate an enormous simulation environment.

Probably you may be asking, how can a business benefit from AR and VR, where exactly is AV and VR applied? well let’s dive to your answers, the following are the applications of VR and AR.

Applications of VR and AR

1 Architecture and urban planning

VR is gradually changing the way that architects design and experiment with their work. VR makes it possible to see not just what a building or space will look like but how it will feel.

For example, if someone was looking to add an extension to their property, they can experience the space and what it will look like before it’s physically built and then make real-time changes. This saves the customer and architect time and money, as well as increasing satisfaction on completion of the project.

Architects have been using 3D models for years but using immersive tools allows them to understand and explore the space at the deepest level possible. The BBC even have a TV show in the UK, Your Home Made Perfect, built on two rival architects showcasing designs to homeowners in VR, before they’re built in reality.

2 Tourism, travels and cultural preservation

Virtual Tours are quite popular and a phenomenal way to make your potential visitors have a virtual experience of exploring landscapes, popular locations, popular places, etc., and let them know how enjoyable the whole experience will be. Resorts and hotels can also have an advantage with the use of virtual reality by making a virtual experience of how clients will be greeted and served. Encourage your potential clients by virtually showing them your property and how well trained your staff is. Similarly, the transportation industry can encourage passengers and give them an experience of how comfortable their services are.

Navigation is an obvious use case. Google Maps has received an AR upgrade recently. Users can view the streets through their smartphone’s camera, and the directions appear on their screen. GPS apps powered by AR might show tourist routes, translate signs on streets, and give sightseeing tips. AR combined with Wi-Fi, beacons or ultra-wideband will facilitate indoor navigations. Airports, train stations, trade shows, shopping malls, and offices will become visitor friendlier.

applications of VR and AR experiences highlighting 3D videos of diverse locations can empower the tourism industry to allure customers to finalize the trip. Individual entrepreneurs or tourism companies can use AR and VR for easy navigation and showcasing popular tourist attractions. Give them a virtual tour with the use of AR and VR tools.

In the post-Covid era, the developments in VR for tourism enable you to try a holiday before you buy it. Thomas Cook launched their ‘Try Before You Fly‘ VR experience back in 2015, where potential holidaymakers could visit stores in various countries to experience the holiday in VR before booking it. As a result, there was a 190% uplift in New York excursions bookings after people tried the 5-minute version of the holiday in VR.

3 Training and Education

Even though a virtual classroom full of students playing games sounds like the start of any online lecturer’s nightmare, game-based learning can actually be very useful. The education gamification market will reach around $1.5 billion by the end of this year. Research shows that students who have used gamification have scored 14% higher in skills-based assessments.

Essentially, game-based learning is where students complete a series of tasks centered around one theme or subject, and the better they fare, the more rewards they receive. The more rewards they achieve, the more they progress through the levels. You know how games work.

This is effective since it takes the perceived side effects of gaming, such as addiction and over-competitiveness, and uses them for learning purposes. VR allows students to immerse themselves in a game that is engaging but also educational, and it promotes team building and healthy competition.

VR gamification has the ability to enhance distance learning as it can create genuine social interaction, and, due to its versatility, it can engage students far more than other forms of distance learning. On average, only 15% of students make it to the end of their online course.

Research on game-based learning shows that:

• 80% of U.S. workers believe that game-based learning is more engaging.
• Using game-based learning improves 50% of workers’ productivity.
• 67% of students claimed that they feel more motivated during gamification courses.

Not only that, it enables students to take ownership and control the management of their learning, as it is up to them to follow the game’s narrative and collect the badges. It also lets them explore various subjects and roles through different avatars and identities.

One of the most useful aspects of VR game-based learning is receiving the analytics. These games have the ability to quickly and accurately assess students’ strengths and weaknesses and suggest areas that they can improve in. This room for constant progression encourages students to think critically, which is a skill that is sometimes lost during distance learning.

According to Statista, VR in education will be a $700 million USD industry by 2025. VR and AR work beautifully in education, especially considering the social distancing policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AR technology makes schooling more interactive, engaging, and efficient. For instance, with AR applications, students can observe a 3D galaxy on their tablets or witness an extinct animal come to life. Applications of Virtual Reality will help students see scientific breakthroughs from the scientists’ perspective or even make discoveries in a virtual lab.

For example, Wikitude has developed Ai.R-Cord, an AR app that allows elementary schools to learn subjects from 1st to 6th grade through interactive AR experiences.

4 Real estate

The Internet is the first place where buyers and renters look for properties. AR can help customers experience homes differently and save time. For prospective investors, AR lets showcase properties before they have been built or turn 2D blueprints into interactive 3D visualizations.

VR glasses and 3D shots of properties also create a tremendous impact. Real estate dealings can be exhausting both for realtors and clients. VR can minimize the driving and walking to view multiple properties, the need to remember numerous details about each one, the stress of choice, and other frustrations. VR showcases of properties ensure good exposure, gather millions of views, engage international buyers, and dramatically reduce the time to close a sale. A realtor can lead a tour through a property remotely and even see where the client is looking, addressing issues in real-time. Exploring 3D plans through VR also bridges the gap between an architect’s or designer’s imagination and the real world.

For example, Matterport is a 3D media platform that allows easy creation of 360-degree video and interactive 3D walkthroughs of any real-world place to help agents better interact with their clients and market real estate.

5 Healthcare and Therapy

The healthcare industry is a Petri dish for augmented and virtual reality business ideas. AR apps are already used for various tasks, from helping patients identify their symptoms to enabling surgeons to peer inside a patient’s body without making large incisions.

The healthcare industry has benefitted from the use of both VR and AR applications as medical employees including a nurse, surgeons, doctors, etc. can be trained for severe or life-threatening situations through a customized virtual approach to enhance the skills and manage an emergency situation more effectively. Many lives can be saved and be prepared in an emergency situation.

Many health issues like psychological disorders can be treated with virtual reality applications or in any other situation. You can well-prepare your patients for how to face a situation in a detailed way and help them overcome their fears and be more confident and calmer in extreme situations.

Ultra high-definition 4K displays and video gaming technology are paving the way for utilizing virtual reality in hospitals. A combination of VR, gaming software, and medical imaging procedures already offers simulation capabilities and detailed organ maps. Surgeons will be able to plan and avoid previously unforeseeable issues. This will minimize invasive procedures, reduce complications for the patients, and promote faster recoveries.

Moreover, applications of AR/VR offer virtual operating rooms and virtual organ modeling to teach medical students and healthcare professionals to sharpen their skills and minimize medical issues in the future.

6 Marketing and Sales

As you’ve probably guessed by now, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are huge platforms with an immense marketplace. Although still in development, both VR and AR are expected to be huge money makers.

Augmented Reality is expected to hit a revenue of $90 billion by the year 2020, as users demand more intense experiences. Virtual Reality is expected to hit 30 billion by the same year.

VR and AR are the future of the marketplace, and expect businesses to innovate further in how to make money more effectively through these new forms of media. If you haven’t tried them yourself just yet, then what are you waiting for? Pick up your smartphone and step into the future, and you’ll understand where the future is going in app development.

Marketing is becoming more and more about how companies make customers feel so utilizing the immersion of VR seems like a natural extension. From Topshop providing fashionistas with a front row at London Fashion Week with a VR headset, to Tom’s shoes taking customers on a trip through Peru to show where each pair of shoes they donate goes to, the heightened sense of connection through VR is sure to make you remember and connect with these brands.

VR marketing is also becoming popular for universities to create virtual campus tours of universities. Princeton, Yale, and Columbia have all tried this out as a way for more students to be able to see their campus.

7 Interior designs as one of the applications of VR and AR

Apps like IKEA Place not only help to put 3D models of IKEA furniture and room sets to see which items will fit best your own home. People can test colors and other ideas and calculate the necessary materials and labor costs. Construction workers can bring blueprints to life and images for clients to see how their prospective homes might look.

It’s not just the structure of your home that’s getting a makeover in VR. You can now use immersive experiences to mimic the interior design too. Companies like Flipspaces are capitalizing on this, providing users with 3D visualizations of the interior of their home or workspace – from lighting to ventilation, color schemes, and products themselves.

Platforms like this don’t just help designers and homeowners visualize the look and feel of a property- they also have the potential to drive direct sales for furniture companies.

Since 2017, IKEA’s Place app has enabled consumers to see how furniture would look and fit into their interior – without leaving home. The number of online shoppers wishing to do that, try on clothes without putting them on, and so on, will be increasing. That will lead to faster buying decisions, decreased purchases returns, and higher customer satisfaction.

8 Entertainment and Sports

VR applications were initially used in the entertainment and gaming industry, however, with time, it expanded to several sectors and is still evolving. Both AR and VR enhance the experience of a user in the entertainment and sports field by using 3D objects. Athletes’ performance can be improved with VR as it stimulates the training program with customized options to boost and improve skills. Sports players playing American football and basketball can improve their performance with these applications.

An individual playing VR games will be more fitter and will lose weight as these games are developed to enable the use of their body while playing the game. With the use of augmented reality, a sports fan can get more insight and valuable details. Investing in AR and VR equipment will boost more clientele and revenue.

The way that we watch sports is already changing, with several VR companies specializing in watching live sports events. You can now watch the NBA, NFL, and other events in VR. BT Sport broadcasted the UEFA Champions League final in 360 degree VR via YouTube and the BT VR app, all for free. You could watch the game from several viewpoints in the stadium, as if you were actually there.

Companies such as Big Screen VR enable people to watch the Super bowl together in VR, and NBC announced it will live stream the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in VR, as well as provide highlights for some of the events in VR. You can even host a ‘virtual Olympics watch party‘ if that’s your kind of thing.

This is a great way of opening up live sports events to people who can’t travel to the venue or can’t afford tickets to watch the sports in person. Instead, they can get a sense of atmosphere and presence from VR.

9 Gaming

The revenue of virtual gaming worldwide will reach 2.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2024. The viral Pokémon GO is still the first AR app that comes to most people’s minds when they think of AR. However, apart from Pokémon Go, there are many other AR games. For example, The Walking Dead: Our World. This AR mobile game allows users to fight with zombies in the park, at your home, in the street, wherever.

Companies can monetize VR games by selling them through stores or by charging brands for advertising. If you run an arcade center, investing in VR equipment and AR/VR games will bring in more customers and increase your revenue. AR/VR escape rooms are another promising business opportunity. Instead of building a real escape room, much less modeling several rooms as space stations, haunted mansions, etc., entrepreneurs can rely on modern technology. Varied VR experiences realized within a single physical space may be equally delightful for the customers.

Below you can see an example of our work. Onix Unity 3D developers created a game that is about finding your new home. The main idea of this application of virtual reality is the astronaut who’s traveling from planet to planet trying to find resources to live and discover a new place that will be his home.

10 Events, meetings, and conferences.

Since VR enables individuals to meet in places virtually, it’s no surprise that the pandemic brought a rise in VR events, conferences and meetings. Platforms such as Glue, Arthur and Meeting Room can be used to hold collaborative, interactive meetings with colleagues from anywhere in the world.

You can put on your headset in London, and meet virtually with your colleagues in New York and Madrid, and connect and work with them as if you were all in the same room. With collaboration tools such as whiteboards and freehand 3D drawings, they help remote or hybrid meetings become as good as face-to-face meetings, without the time and cost needed to travel.

Some people are using VR for networking and events. Educators in VR regularly host events in VR on topics including cyberbullying, storytelling, and language learning, which are available to attend in VR or desktop. By bringing people together in VR, attendees can immerse themselves in the topic and virtual space and build stronger connections with each other compared to events via traditional video conferencing tools.

11 Manufacturing and Engineering Projects

Full-scale models are a prevailing expensive element of manufacturing and engineering projects that can be easily switched with the use of Virtual reality applications that are more affordable to review the project efficiency in the designing phase prior to initiating the main manufacturing project. 3D techniques and tools are combined with virtual reality engineering applications to offer a detailed analysis of projects and examination for phases to modify or design errors. 

Augmented Reality can enable and stimulate processes at various factories. It also facilitates engineers to exhibit construction sites and models and share their perceptions. AR tools enable its users to keep track of the work in progress and with digital plans save time. With the use of AR and VR in manufacturing and engineering projects, an individual can benefit themselves by avoiding working in dangerous conditions.

12 Retail and Online Shopping

With the use of VR, an individual can finish the transaction without leaving the comfort of their home and complete all the required steps to finish buying the products. Virtual Reality can easily facilitate a personalized shopping experience by making virtual stores for their clients where they can navigate the entire store with their VR headset. The use of VR applications in retail and online shopping has changed the game as the clients can explore the diverse range of products and examine each product prior to making the payment from their home. We are listing some businesses that have benefited from the use of AR and VR:

• Showrooms for various products and cars can be easily generated in the virtual world to enable examining several products and eradicate the feasibility of acquisition of incompetent products without stepping out of your home.
• The real estate sector has availed of the benefits of the use of VR applications as their potential clients can explore the listings virtually and examine the location without commuting and exploring several listings until they find the perfect one.
• Training staff can be a daunting task, however, with the use of VR technology, now companies can train their staff by simply simulating real experiences and situations.
• Retailers and online shopping stores that are using VR and AR are well-equipped to evolve customer behavior. VR and AR provide a comprehensive shopping experience to clients that facilitate them to make the right and informed decisions while saving their precious time and keeping them safe during the pandemic.