Augmented reality

Abstract

Today we can obtain in a simple and rapid way most of the information that we need. Devices, such as personal computers and mobile phones, enable access to information in different formats (written, pictorial, audio or video) whenever and wherever. Daily we use and encounter information that can be seen as virtual objects or objects that are part of the virtual world of computers. Everyone, at least once, wanted to bring these virtual objects from the virtual world of computers into real environments and thus mix virtual and real worlds. In such a mixed reality, real and virtual objects coexist in the same environment. The reality, where users watch and use the real environment upgraded with virtual objects is called augmented reality. In this article we describe the main properties of augmented reality. In addition to the basic properties that define a reality as augmented reality, we present the various building elements (possible hardware and software) that provide an insight into such a reality and practical applications of augmented reality. The applications are divided into three groups depending on the information and functions that augmented reality offers, such as help, guide and simulator.