“We are delighted to join the AREA community. Becoming part of a network sharing our enthusiasm and passion for augmented reality was easy. The opportunity to share and gain knowledge with fellow members will be invaluable, benefiting us and our clients,” said Alex Taylor, CEO of Net4 Connect. “Through our membership, we hope to gain new insights, foster innovative collaborations, and stay at the forefront of industry advancements, ultimately enhancing our service offerings and driving success for our clients. We look forward to contributing to and growing with this vibrant community.”

“Net4 Connect is a welcome addition to the AREA,” said Mark Sage, AREA’s Executive Director. “We look forward to the contributions they will make to our alliance in the use of augmented reality and their knowledge and expertise in AI, IoT, and 5G.”

About Net4 Connect

Empowering Innovation with Cutting-Edge Technology Solutions. Visit our website: https://net4connect.com/.

About the AR for Enterprise Alliance (AREA)

The AR for Enterprise Alliance (AREA) is the only global membership-funded alliance helping to accelerate the adoption of enterprise AR by supporting the growth of a comprehensive ecosystem. The AREA accelerates AR adoption by creating a comprehensive ecosystem for enterprises, providers, and research institutions. AREA is a program of Object Management Group® (OMG®). For more information, visit the AREA website.

Object Management Group and OMG are registered trademarks of the Object Management Group. For a listing of all OMG trademarks, visit https://www.omg.org/legal/tm_list.htm. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

BOSTON, MA – MAY  9, 2024 – Today, the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA) announced the AR Safety Infographic, a new tool that explores the benefits and potential safety risks of using AR in the workplace. By carefully considering safety before deploying AR solutions, organizations may be able to avoid issues before they occur.

Each section contains the benefits and challenges of using AR and includes a summary to the left when it is clicked on. There is also a detailed page for the section when clicking the ‘LEARN MORE’ button to help you understand the benefits and potential risks and how to manage them.

“Our mission is to help companies in all parts of the AR ecosystem achieve greater operational efficiency through the smooth introduction and widespread adoption of interoperable AR-assisted enterprise systems,” said Mark Sage, Executive Director of the AREA. “Our AR Safety Infographic provides reliable guidance that makes the path to AR adoption surer, shorter, and smoother.”

The sections include:

AR Experience – integrates the digital and physical worlds seamlessly, and any interactions should feel like you are interacting within a real-world environment.

Cognition – Effective use of technology-based environments and augmented reality reduces cognitive load by scaffolding information and lessons’ contents

Sensory – Engaging in immersive experiences can offer many benefits, catering to personal growth, entertainment, education, and even therapeutic purposes.

Environmental – Augmented Reality has all the trapping to encourage sustainability in the energy sector; AR is being used to power renewable energy systems by providing a more detailed understanding of energy sources and their potential.

Physical – The most prevalent benefit is the AR headset experience, enabling users to see their physical surroundings while interacting with virtual assets. This allows not only safety for the user by seeing their surroundings but also mobility.

Devices & Accessories – Augmented Reality Devices encompass various hardware, each offering unique immersive experiences.

See the AREA website for member companies contributing to the AR Safety Infographic.

About the AR for Enterprise Alliance (AREA)
The AR for Enterprise Alliance (AREA) is the only global membership-funded alliance helping to accelerate the adoption of enterprise AR by supporting the growth of a comprehensive ecosystem. The AREA accelerates AR adoption by creating a comprehensive ecosystem for enterprises, providers, and research institutions. AREA is a program of Object Management Group® (OMG®). For more information, visit the AREA website.

Object Management Group and OMG are registered trademarks of the Object Management Group. For a listing of all OMG trademarks, visit https://www.omg.org/legal/tm_list.htm. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

“Innovation knows no bounds, and the AREA is proud to have been at the forefront of driving technological advancements and fostering collaboration within the AR ecosystem,” said Mark Sage, Executive Director of the AREA. “As we embark on the next chapter of our journey, we are excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AR and shaping the future of enterprise technology.”

Established in 2014, the AREA was born out of recognizing that AR held transformative potential for industries worldwide. With the mission to facilitate dialogue, share best practices, and advocate for AR adoption, the alliance united industry leaders, innovators, and experts to explore the vast possibilities of AR technology. Over the past decade, the AREA has achieved significant milestones:

• Overcoming Barriers to Adoption: Collaboratively, our members have diligently identified, classified, and prioritized AR security, safety, and human factors risks, culminating in developing comprehensive risk reduction recommendations.
• Collaborative Research Initiatives: The AREA has spearheaded groundbreaking research projects, fostering collaboration between industry stakeholders and academia to advance AR technologies and applications.
• Knowledge Sharing and Education: Through workshops, webinars, and conferences, the AREA has served as a knowledge hub, equipping professionals with the insights and skills needed to harness the full potential of AR in their respective fields.
• Strategic Partnerships: The AREA has forged partnerships with leading technology companies, startups, and research institutions, driving innovation and accelerating the adoption of AR across diverse industries.

“We envision a future where AR seamlessly integrates into everyday workflows, unlocking new possibilities for productivity, efficiency, and creativity,” Sage added.

About the AR for Enterprise Alliance (AREA)

The AR for Enterprise Alliance (AREA) is the only global membership-funded alliance helping to accelerate the adoption of enterprise AR by supporting the growth of a comprehensive ecosystem. The AREA accelerates AR adoption by creating a comprehensive ecosystem for enterprises, providers, and research institutions. AREA is a program of Object Management Group® (OMG®). For more information, visit the AREA website.

Object Management Group and OMG are registered trademarks of the Object Management Group. For a listing of all OMG trademarks, visit https://www.omg.org/legal/tm_list.htm. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Manifest, AR Remote Guidance

The AR technology firm provided direct onboarding during a trial with British Airways, which introduced Taqtile’s products to onsite workers.

Dirck Schou, the CEO of Taqtile, added,

“This unique accelerator program has been a great way to introduce airlines to cutting-edge technologies like Manifest which can help them improve the performance of technicians and engineers immediately”

Additionally, the 10-week programme taught staff how to utilize the Manifest platform. Taqtile’s service operates on spatial devices such as Magic Leap and Microsft’s Hololens 2; the product also works across multiple devices, including tablets and smartphones.

An onsite worker can access guidance resources such as digital manuals, video guides, holograms, and 3D models, all presented as detailed AR visualizations. Manifest displays digital resources in the field of view (FoV) of a worker’s headset, and the wearer can navigate a spatial interface hands-free.

Schou continued, stating,

“Through demonstrations of our AR-enabled work instruction platform over the 10-week program, airline industry leaders have gained a better understanding of the tangible benefits Manifest is capable of delivering”

For frontline airport staff, Taqtile’s solution helps workers learn invaluable company-centric knowledge and enhance their efficiency when performing maintenance tasks.

Taqtile explained how airports could leverage its Manifest solution by dispersed teams providing live guidance from an operations centre to frontline employees.

Manifest supports several file types, including photos, videos, real-time 3D (RT3D) content, computer-aided designs, and PDFs. Taqtile recently teamed up with Microsoft this month to integrate the Azure Remote Rendering platform into Manifest.

The move enables firms to perform large-scale onboarding, training, and operational duties with increased efficiency and engagement. Taqtile and Microsoft achieve this by integrating Azure-powered streaming to enhance RT3D content distribution across Manifest-ready devices.

Key updates in this release:

• Advanced Model Target Improvements: Training times for Advanced Model Targets have been optimized and now depend on the number and size of views. Recognition performance for advanced, close-up views has also been improved.
• Area Target Improvements:
  • The target’s occlusion mesh is now exposed in the C API which allows native apps to render occluded virtual content in combination with Area Targets as you move through the space.
  • Textured authoring models are now created by the Area Target Creator app and the Area Target Capture API providing an improved authoring experience in Unity. These scans can be loaded into the Area Target Generator for clean-up and post-processing.
  • Area Target tracking data is now compressed and takes up to 60% less space.

• Unity Area Target Clipping: Area Target previews in the Unity Editor can be clipped based on height, for faster previewing and better visibility of the scanned space during app development.
• Engine Developer Portal (EDP) Self-Service OAuth UI: OAuth Engine credentials can now be managed from the EDP, eliminating the need for the command line.
• Notices
  • High Sensor-Rate Permission: Due to new Android permission requirements, developers should add the “high sensor rate” permission to all native Vuforia Engine apps running on Android 12+ for all releases, otherwise VISLAM may not work. Read more about VISLAM tracking here.
  • Permission Handling: The Vuforia Engine behavior of triggering OS-specific user permission requests at runtime is deprecated in 10.8 and will be removed in an upcoming release.  All native apps should be updated to manage permissions themselves. The 10.8 sample apps share best practices for this.

Combining Magic Leap’s advanced spatial computing platform with NavVis’s mobile mapping systems and spatial data platform, the two companies aim to enhance the use of AR applications across key industries, including automotive, manufacturing, retail and the public sector.

As part of this strategic partnership, NavVis will bring its NavVis VLX mobile mapping system and NavVis IVION Enterprise spatial data platform to Magic Leap’s new and existing enterprise customers with an initial focus on manufacturing. Magic Leap customers will be able to leverage NavVis’s expansive visualization capabilities to generate photorealistic, accurate digital twins of their facilities at unprecedented speed and scale.

The market opportunity for digital twins and other forms of advanced visualization is significant – with demonstrated potential to transform the world of work as we know it. While attention around the potential of the metaverse has put a greater focus on all types of mixed reality technology, AR represents an immediate opportunity for businesses to enhance productivity and improve operational efficiency. Magic Leap’s open, interoperable platform will also enable the metaverse to scale for enterprise applications.

While the Magic Leap 2 platform offers cutting-edge scanning and localization capabilities in real-time on the device itself, NavVis’s technology will allow Magic Leap customers to pre-map and deploy digital twins in large, complex settings that can cover up to millions of square feet – including but not limited to warehouses, retail stores, offices and factories – for a variety of use cases, such as remote training, assistance and collaboration. Such applications will enable companies to reduce operational costs, enhance overall efficiency and democratize the manufacturing workforce of tomorrow.

“We are seeing significant demand for digital twin solutions from our enterprise customer base and are thrilled to partner with NavVis to make our shared vision for large-scale AR applications a reality,” said Peggy Johnson, CEO of Magic Leap. “Coupled with our Magic Leap 2 platform, NavVis’s advanced visualization capabilities will enable high-quality, large-scale and novel AR experiences that business users demand.”

The NavVis partnership is an essential component of Magic Leap’s strategy to cultivate an ecosystem of best-in-class technology partners that will deliver on the promise of enterprise AR, leveraging Magic Leap 2’s powerful, open platform. With a global customer base of more than 400 companies, including the likes of BMW, Volkswagen, Siemens and Audi, NavVis has a proven track record of delivering immediate and long-term value to enterprises looking to modernize their operations.

“Enterprise AR solutions for larger-scale activations will open the door for greater innovation in the workplace,” said Dr. Felix Reinshagen, CEO and co-founder of NavVis. “Our own experience shows that 3D mapping and digital twins are a fundamental foundation for large-scale persistent AR applications. We’re experiencing strong demand across many verticals with industrial manufacturing as a clear front runner. Magic Leap is a world leader in delivering impactful, innovative experiences in these verticals, and we are excited to collaborate with the company to advance this mission and further enable the future of work.”

About Magic Leap

Magic Leap, Inc.’s technology is designed to amplify human potential by delivering the most immersive Augmented Reality (AR) platform, so people can intuitively see, hear, and touch digital content in the physical world. Through the use of our advanced, enterprise-grade AR technologies, products, platforms, and services, we deliver innovative businesses a powerful tool for transformation.

Magic Leap, Inc. was founded in 2010, is proudly headquartered in South Florida, with eight additional offices across the globe.

About NavVis

Bridging the gap between the physical and digital world, NavVis enables service providers and enterprises to capture and share the built environment as photorealistic digital twins. Their SLAM-based mobile mapping systems generate high-quality data with survey-grade accuracy at speed and scale. And with their digital factory solutions, users are equipped to make better operational decisions, boost productivity, streamline business processes, and improve profitability. Based in Munich, Germany, with offices in the United States and China, NavVis has customers worldwide in the surveying, AEC, and manufacturing industries.