No it’s not a different kind of Virtual Reality.

Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video graphics or GPS data.

In short AR uses artificial information about the environment and its objects and overlays it in the real world. 

All of this augmentation happens in real-time and with the help of advanced AR technologies such as computer vision and object recognition the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally manipulable.

So how does this all work for you in everyday life?

Want to see how your living room would look with a new couch?

Leading retailer IKEA has found that 14% of its customers end up taking home furniture that ends up not looking exactly as they imagined... Thanks to AR customers can try out select products in their homes with just a printed catalogue, a mobile app and a smartphone or tablet. 

Want to know when the next bus is arriving? Just point your smartphone’s camera at the bus stop and CivicAR can deliver up the schedule. 

By using a smartphone's location data along with the phone’s camera to detect points of interest, CivicAR can deliver in real-time virtually any data a city chooses to make available -- from transit schedules and traffic reports, to information about local events, emergency service facilities or, yes, available parking spots.

If all of the above hasn’t impressed you then have a look at the Microsoft Hololens, due for release in the near future, its offering some seriously big things… like ‘transforming your world with holograms’…

Let us know your thoughts about all things AR in the comment section below!