AREA member 3D Studio Blomberg (3DS) excels at visualization of data and especially at enterprise solutions for Augmented Reality. The AREA asked Pontus Blomberg, founder and CEO of 3DS, about his company’s history and projects in the space.

Q. Where do you have the greatest number of projects or customers?

Our customers are mainly in heavy industry, and include both large and mid-sized companies. We are also targeting the educational and consumer sectors for our AR solutions.

Q. How did 3DS become popular as a supplier to the industries you just identified?

Since the company’s founding we’ve led the way to digital transformation through advanced content delivery systems to promote process efficiency, expert knowledge and overall quality.

In 2006 we recognized the potential of AR to boost productivity in industrial workplaces and introduced the technology to Wartsila, a major Finnish power equipment supplier in 2008. At that time we evaluated ALVAR, Vuforia, and Metaio to survey their functionality from a visualization standpoint and assess their capabilities in handling 3D scenes and animations. In 2012 we delivered a proof of concept to Wartsila, and in 2013 we joined a Finnish national R&D program to study the potential of AR in knowledge sharing solutions for field service personnel.

This study showed that research and practical industry applications were not in sync, and many players were concerned with achieving efficiency through dynamic AR content and data integration. We entered an AR solutions provider partnership with Metaio in 2014 but realized the platform focused on technology functionality rather than on system utilization and process implementation, which is our focus today. We are currently studying the potential of Osterhaut Design Group’s R-7 smart glasses and continue to perform proof of concept projects with emphasis on process analysis, system development and AR in production use.

Q. What are the most common metrics used to assess task performance or project success?

We recommend that customer metrics be in line with their quality management system for effective reference and comparison. Broadly speaking, examples of common metrics include:

• Improvements in product and service quality
• Effectiveness
• Safety and risk reduction

Taking simple definitions of effectiveness (“doing the right thing”) and efficiency (“doing the thing right”), we believe it’s possible to work efficiently but it doesn’t contribute to productivity until we’re able to efficiently do the right things at the right time.

Q. What is your approach to AR introduction at customer sites?

As AR is new to most organizations, we recommend detailed analysis of the customer’s business strategy. In order to achieve digital transformation in line with the AR solution, the project needs to be aligned with the business strategy all the way to the board room. We also recommend demos and proof of concept projects to help organizations gain knowledge and understanding.

Q. How is data prepared for your customer projects?

It’s all a question of knowledge and experience gained through project implementation. Initially data has to be prepared manually, but at later stages of the project we’re better able to develop ways of handling new types of content in existing enterprise content systems.

Q. Do you get involved in the design of content that goes into pilot projects?

Yes, this is where our long experience and advantage really shines. Our expertise in visualization, combined with the customer’s industrial product and process expertise, play a significant role in achieving digital transformation through AR solutions. But no large-scale transformations can occur before new knowledge and tools are in place that allow for productivity and dynamic content.

Q. Do you study project risks with the customer or project leader?

There have been no major studies until now but naturally new technologies bring risks with them. Imagine driving your car with GPS assistance in heavy traffic and suddenly you can’t get a signal.

Q. Do you know if your customers perform user studies prior to and following use of the proposed system?

Yes, the fact that we start to see significant achievements in implementing AR solutions drives these kinds of studies. We’ve also had the chance to work together with partners in bigger collaborative research projects.

Q. What are the attitudes of those in the workplace where AR projects are successfully introduced?

Employees at the customer site are very positive and even surprised. We often encounter statements similar to, “Wow! I’ve seen this on YouTube and the Internet. It’s incredible to see that it really works.”

Q. Describe the technologies at play. What types of components do you offer?

Through our key partner network we offer the entire pipeline of smart glasses, mobile solutions, UIs, server-client databases and content development.

We use worldclass tracking technologies today but expect that Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technologies will gain ground. We realize this type of technology isn’t applicable in unique or dynamic situations at larger scales, although we’ve performed several demos and proof of concept projects with SLAM and the results are promising.

At the moment we see marker-based (or with code/ID) and geo-tracking as the most stable and flexible ways to acquire user context. We’ve built upon these technologies in our products and platforms.

At the same time we realize significant investment is needed in the modification of existing customer processes and new competences. To be successful, we aim to help our customers drive this change through systematic long-term cooperation.

Q. What must customers provide in terms of system components?

For rapid familiarization with the technology we recommend providing data to achieve a real look and feel. We recommend not overdoing it with complex UIs and information flows. Developing proof of concept projects with small, incremental steps for easy evaluation and quick changes is important to identify precisely the drivers of an AR introduction.

Q. With whom do you partner most often?

We partner with technology providers (hardware, software and tracking technologies), and we also see content providers as strategic because of their long-term customer relationships. To get all these complex systems to work together with business process changes is a team effort. It will take a few years. We aim to use what’s already been applied in an enterprise because we want to leverage the significant investments that have already been made in IT and visualization.

Q. What are the environmental conditions where customer projects are being conducted?

We’ve experienced both laboratory and real environmental conditions, especially in terms of lighting, vibrations and sound. Many of our customers use ruggedized solutions for their projects, which means unique and custom solutions for harsh, dynamic environments.

Q. What are your other offerings?

In terms of training, 3DS also provides competence development in combination with process development. For data, we use the customer’s cloud and offer commercial cloud solutions.

Q. What are the greatest challenges you currently face in AR introduction projects?

Customers often don’t have sufficient insight into the possibilities that emerging visualization technologies and content can provide. Therefore a clear understanding of customer expectations, goals and their business is needed. Customers also need a certain amount of trust that their expectations will be met.

Many times the only way forward is to agree on a proof of concept or demo that shows the technology, content, functionality, added value and supplier capabilities.

From the customer point of view, there are also uncertainties about the new types of content that will be needed to enrich the current PLM process to allow for visualization on a large scale. How will this information be connected and utilized together with the new visual content? We offer expertise in these questions and they need to be processed in very close cooperation with the customer as they touch the very core of their business.

Q. What are the future plans or next steps for your company?

We’ll continue to systematically monitor and build our international client base and partner network and develop state-of-the-art products and services.

There are many use cases for Augmented Reality in the aerospace industry and the leaders in this industry have a long history with the technology. In this post, we review some of the milestones and provide highlights of the recent AREA webinar.

In 1969, while working in the Human Engineering Division of the Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (USAF), Wright-Patterson AFB, Thomas Furness presented a paper entitled “Helmet-Mounted Displays and their Aerospace Applications” to attendees of the National Aerospace Electronics Conference.

Over 20 years later the paper was one of eight references cited by two Boeing engineers, Thomas Caudell and David Mizell. In their 1992 paper published in the Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Caudell and Mizell coined the term “Augmented Reality.” The degree to which the team drew from the work of Furness, who had started the Human Interface Technology Lab at University of Washington in 1989, is unclear but the focus of the Boeing team was on reducing errors when building wire harnesses for use in aircraft and other manual manufacturing tasks in aerospace. 

While the technology was not sufficiently mature to leave the lab or to deliver on its potential at the time, they suggested that with an AR-assisted system an engineer would in the future be able to perform tasks more quickly and with fewer errors. 

Proof of Concepts

Approximately fifteen years later, in 2008, Paul Davies, a research & development engineer at AREA member Boeing began working with Boeing Technical Fellow, Anthony Majoros. Together, Davies and Majoros picked up where the Caudell and Mizell paper left off. They used commercially-available technologies such as Total Immersion’s D’Fusion platform to show how technicians building satellites could perform complex tasks with Augmented Reality running on tablets.

Airbus has also been experimenting with Augmented Reality for over a decade. In this paper published in the ISMAR 2006 proceedings, Dominik Willers explains how Augmented Reality was being studied for assembly and service tasks but judged too immature for introduction into production environments. The paper, authored in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, focused on the need for advances in tracking. 

Since those proof of concept projects, AR technology has advanced to the point that it is being explored for an increasing number of use cases in the aerospace industry. In parallel with the expansion of use cases, the pace of applied research into AR-enabling technology components has not abated.

Augmented Reality in Aerospace in 2016

While today AR may not be found in many aerospace production environments, the promise of the technology to increase efficiency is widely acknowledged.

On February 18, David Doral of AERTEC Solutions, Jim Novack of Talent Swarm, and Raul Alarcon of the European Space Agency joined Paul Davies and me to discuss the status of Augmented Reality in their companies and client projects.

Each participant described the use cases and drivers for Augmented Reality adoption. For Boeing, the key metrics are reduction of errors and time to task completion. Use cases include training and work assistance. AERTEC Solutions, which works closely with Airbus, and Talent Swarm are both focusing on use cases where live video from a head-mounted camera can bring greater understanding of a technician’s context and questions, and permit more rapid analysis and resolution of issues.

The European Space Agency sees a variety of use cases on Earth and in space. Inspection and quality assurance, for example, could benefit from the use of Augmented Reality-assisted systems.

Turbulence Ahead 

During the discussion, webinar panelists explored the obstacles that continue to prevent full-scale adoption. In general, most barriers to adoption can be considered as technological in nature. But there are also significant obstacles stemming from human factors and business considerations. We also discussed the degree to which other industries may be able to apply lessons learned from aerospace.

To learn more about the state of AR in the aerospace industry, please watch the webinar archive.

Do you have use cases and projects that you would like to share with the AREA and our audiences? Please let us know in the comments of this post.

AREA members have a great deal of experience with implementing enterprise AR projects. We sat down with Niklas Rengfors, VP of Sales at XMReality, to learn how his company’s solutions and approach to AR introduction are helping to improve field service organizations with advanced remote assistance technologies.

What types of companies are using your solutions today?

We have the privilege to work with companies like Tetra Pak, Wärtsilä, Bombardier and Bosch Rexroth who have large, geographically dispersed field service organizations. Service professionals are called upon to perform routine service but sometimes they encounter situations that they don’t expect. Our systems can also be used to help those in two factories or two service centers visualize conditions and support one another using a live video enhanced with Augmented Reality.

What are the reasons these customers have chosen to work with XMReality as a supplier?

One important factor is that we focus on industrial users, mainly asset-heavy companies with a worldwide support commitment and provide all the hardware, software and services they need to deploy for remote assistance. Since our standard solution is truly “plug and play,” they can quickly begin to get experience and results. Then we collaborate with our customers in order to provide additional Augmented Reality functionality.

How has the employee performance in the workplace where you’ve introduced Augmented Reality been impacted?

We always work with a customer to put a business case together before we know the size of the deployment and the investment required. Working with service organizations, they monitor a lot of metrics. For example, they know precisely how much time they spend travelling, how much of the service they provide is under warranty, etc.
The most popular KPIs are

• First time fix ratio
• Travel costs
• Manhours to complete a task
• Uptime on the asset/machine

What is your company’s recommended approach to AR introduction? Are there steps or a model/method you follow?  

It is very important to have a plan and to follow the plan when new technology is being introduced. We have developed our own methodology. XMWork is a project planning framework we provide for both proof of concepts and also roll-outs, on which we collaborate with the customer.

Do you get involved in the design of the content that will be used in the introduction project/pilots?

Yes, that’s part of our full turnkey service. It is important to align the customer expectation with the technical possibilities and sometimes the customer does not have the skills or tools in-house to make the changes that are required.

How is data prepared for your customer projects?

Once the customer identifies the data they want to use, in meetings and sometimes in workshops, they provide it to us. Our engineers will then modify and enhance it for use in remote assistance using our technology. Sometimes this involves breaking the information down into smaller parts. Sometimes we need to prepare an animation or illustration. It depends on the project and the data we are provided.

What is the profile of a typical user who performs the selected tasks using your product? Are they highly trained professionals?

The users of our systems are technicians and field engineers, so-called “blue collar workers.” There’s little training required for our solution so users don’t need special certification for that.

Do you study project risks with the customer or project leader?

Yes, it is important that customers share and decide the risk level that is acceptable. We see in some cases where smart glasses are worn and might require extra precautions. For example, the person using the glasses needs to detect potential danger such as forklifts in the vicinity. Also some technicians need to climb into machines so they must see where they put their feet. These are questions that typically emerge which we are evaluating project risks.

Do your customers perform user studies prior to and following the use of the XMReality system?

Absolutely! Customers prepare a business case to get funding prior to the project but then they must update these calculations once they have more experience with the technology and use cases. It is very important for us and the customer to study acceptance rates and we frequently help the customer in this study or in creating the business case.

What are the attitudes of those in the workplace where AR projects are successfully introduced?

It depends a lot on the personality and age of the user. Younger people tend to adopt new technology more quickly. Others are a bit more conservative when asked to use new technology. When the user sees the efficiency increase, though, even the more skeptical ones are eager to adopt this type of technology.

Considering the three ingredients of enterprise AR (hardware, software and content), what are the components of the system(s) you offer?

Core in our offering is the software. Customers are able to use their own devices but we also offer our own hardware, hands-free displays that we call “video goggles” and also tablets. For some, hands-free operations is of big importance, for some not. We can also provide accessories such as tool belts in order to improve accessibility of all the tools and technologies technicians require.

What are the greatest challenges you face in current introduction projects?

At this time, it’s quite a challenge to find and secure the right project sponsors. Then we have to support them to obtain project funding and a qualified project manager. We collaborate and consult a great deal to make sure everyone is comfortable with the project scope and that the solutions we offer will meet or exceed the expectation of the project.

What are the future plans/next steps for your company?

We are continually developing our Remote Guidance solution and also expanding the type of Augmented Reality projects we can do. Part of this requires our establishing partnerships with manufacturers of smart glasses so that the customer’s requirements are satisfied. We are always interested in meeting new potential partners and working with them to bring more complete solutions to our customers.

By Christine Perey and Ketan Joshi

Every enterprise AR project is a tremendous learning experience. While every enterprise AR project requires a team, there’s always that shining hero without whose commitment the project would not have come into existence. These heroes of enterprise AR will be the focus of attention during a full day of sessions of the Augmented World Expo 2016 Enterprise AR track.

The in-house managers of the first enterprise AR projects at customer organizations are a special breed. They are special by virtue of their vision, their passion, their persistence and their ability to span many disciplines and stakeholders.

On the one hand they must master dialects of an emerging “Augmented Reality” language that vendors speak, from the nitty gritty details of tracking technology to the subtleties of interactions like hand gestures and voice commands. On the other, they must know when and how to manage their company’s internal IT department priorities and constraints.

And they are rarely recognized for their role in bringing Augmented Reality from science project to enterprise-ready solution.

Bringing the Best and Brightest to the AWE Stage

The AREA is hosting the AWE Enterprise AR track. June 2 will be dedicated to presentations by, and discussions with extraordinary enterprise project managers as they share their important AR project achievements.

While AREA members will bring these pioneering enterprise project managers to the AWE stage, we are sure there are many others who have gone unnoticed.

• Are you a leader in a company that has been testing enterprise AR?
• Did you sacrifice nights, weekends and holidays to make sure that your project stayed on course and could continue?
• Do you feel you’ve had to reset every goal and yet have never forgotten the ultimate benefits that your company could gain from enterprise AR introduction?

We hope you will let us know if you are one of this special breed, or if you know a manager at a customer company who has such experiences to share.

A Simple Framework

During these AREA-hosted Enterprise AR track sessions, AWE delegates will learn about a variety of unique enterprise Augmented Reality pilot projects and deployments. The presentations will follow a framework that will provide practical guidance to those who will follow in their footsteps.

The case studies will cover:

• Use cases
  • Tasks or processes prior to AR implementation and selection criteria
• Custom or off-the-shelf tools and services used in the project
  • Selection process of project partners
• Project time and resource requirements
• Demonstration or a video of the solution in action
• Project outcomes and their measurement
• Future plans

With your support, we are looking forward to identifying and bringing together the heroes of enterprise AR projects and celebrating their achievements on June 2.

Technical communicators are a technology-savvy audience so they’ve read and heard about Augmented Reality. But most people in this role have yet to acquire knowledge about how it works and hands-on experience with the tools. The 2015 edition of tcworld, the annual conference of the European Association for Technical Communication (tekom), offered a unique opportunity for attendees to satisfy their curiosity and begin filling the gaps in their understanding of this new technology, but left them hungry for more.

Held in Stuttgart, Germany, from November 10-12, tcworld drew over 4,200 delegates from 48 countries and featured ten sessions on Augmented Reality topics. To view abstracts of the Augmented Reality track sessions, you can select “Augmented Reality” from the “Topic Area” drop-down menu on the English language program here, and the German program here. All seats were filled and people stood along the walls during the AR sessions delivered in German, the primary language of business for the attendees and, while there remained open seats, English language sessions were also well attended.

Technical Communication Toolsets and AR Demos

In addition to the conference sessions, tcworld has an extensive exhibition floor. Over 200 vendors offering software and services filled two halls. In their own zone there were a half dozen technical communication associations, several emphasizing localization. Some exhibitors, such as Bosch, Cognitas, Semcon, Kothes! and others, demonstrated that their tools could produce and manage Augmented Reality experiences, and the added value of AR as an alternative or extension of traditional user manuals and service documentation. Although many questions about AR delivery hardware platforms such as smart glasses were asked, the tcworld vendors’ AR demonstrations exclusively used tablets. The Oculus Rift demonstration in the Canon/Cognitas booth attracted curious visitors, many of whom were unclear on the distinctions between VR and AR.

Some vendors shared that, compared with last year’s offerings, they are able in 2015 to demonstrate improved object tracking and more complete AR-enabled systems as a result of dedicating more internal resources to research and development. It’s clear that both those in the aisles and the booths consider AR a promising new technical information visualization and delivery method.

Enterprise Augmented Reality Use Cases

In contrast to some other events focusing on AR topics, the tcworld AR session speakers consistently featured real world use cases for the technology. Their high-quality presentations highlighted practical benefits of introducing AR, such as how employees can do their jobs faster and better with the technology, rather than using AR as a marketing gimmick to sell more products.

For example, Andrew Head of Semcon Product Information described and then demonstrated an AR-assisted training use case executed as part of a project with J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited (JCB).

In this use case, overlays of engine maintenance information offer advantages over standard service manuals such as:

• Improved learning efficiency and knowledge retention as a result of users associating instructions with an object’s features and visual cues, thus promoting spatial learning.
• Increased awareness and retention of the safety regulations, as a result of users being required to read regulations prior to starting the AR-based experiences.

Head reported that users were generally happy with the technology and were motivated to explore its further usage, asking such questions as, “When can I get this on my phone?”

In another presentation, Dirk Schart of RE’FLEKT GmbH presented projects underway for urban dwellers and service technicians and described experience delivery on a variety of AR-enabled devices, such as smartphones and smart glasses.

Specifically, Schart described use cases involving:

• An AR-enabled emergency responders’ system (such as this one) for firemen that displays a user interface projected on a fireman’s glove and features remote streaming with dispatchers.
• A smart helmet by AREA member DAQRI for providing both hard hat protection and AR visualization in the field of view.
• A tangible UI developed by the MIT Media Lab, permitting AR-based visualization of additional user interface features overlaid on products.
• Hybrid-city lighting that uses projection AR to guide pedestrians along walkways.
• An AR-enabled window created by RE’FLEKT and displaying information for passengers as part of the Hyperloop transportation system.

Robert Schaefer of TID Informatik GmbH and Daniel Schultheiss of AllVisual presented interesting AR-assisted helicopter maintenance use cases, developed on the basis of the CAD models of Schaefer’s CATALOGcreator product.

The product not only enables real time guidance of mechanics in their daily work, but it showcases another, and just as important aspect of enterprise AR: the visualization of enterprise data and its role in industry 4.0.

Schultheiss spoke about the sheer amounts of data collected by their helicopters before, during and after flight, and how they leverage the data to enhance maintenance. For example, in-flight data can be collected and used for both (predictive) maintenance and insurance. They use tool chains from SAP, TID Informatik and Wikitude to simplify tablet-enabled helicopter servicing, and have developed an integrated data model and cloud technologies to support efficient data collection and usage.

Requirements for Augmented Reality Systems

Several sessions focused on practical aspects of implementing Augmented Reality systems in enterprise.

Representatives from Bosch shared their experiences and challenges with AR projects, and compiled a list of the right questions to ask. The presentation revisited many of the themes that AREA member representative Juergen Lumera spoke about at the AR in Automotive conference in Cologne on October 5^th. 

Simone Schappert, a Masters student at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences provided a survey of tools and technologies for incorporating Augmented Reality in work instructions, and explained the basics of tracking methods (such as marker and markerless tracking), as well as the current landscape of tool vendors. She emphasized the strengths of AR technology in user manuals, such as providing a more immediately helpful (and emotional) experience for users.

In another session of the AR track, Rob Heemels from Canon Business Services discussed the creation of a Learning Activity Plan (LAP) using inputs from intelligent devices and sensors with Augmented Reality (along with some VR) for presentation. Based on recent projects with the Dutch Océ International Training Center

Mixed and Augmented Reality increases target audience engagement with training materials when the service professionals are remote. Professionals who successfully use mixed and Augmented Reality as part of training are likely to feel comfortable with extending its use in service and support use cases.

Augmented Reality is Technical Communication

At heart, the visualization of data in context with Augmented Reality is an important development in the field of technical communication. The presence of AR as a topic in the conference presentations, as well as the interest of traditional technical communication vendors for the technology serves are clear evidence of AR’s growing role. We’re sure to see increasing numbers of AR use cases in the workplace, as well as sessions at tcworld.

Did you attend tcworld 2015? What were your impressions of the Augmented Reality offerings? Leave your comment below.

Augmented Reality offers tremendous opportunity for organizations to improve workforce productivity and reduce human error through increased contextual awareness and guidance. Whether implemented on a head-mounted display, on a tablet or through a stationary system, AR can deliver and collect information for a myriad of applications including training, manufacturing, field service and warehouse logistics.

It is an exciting time to join and participate in the AR ecosystem. Many companies are jumping in. Some are making tremendous advancements in wearable technology through miniaturization. Innovation at the silicon level is lowering power consumption and processing. Others are focusing on improvements in computer vision. Mobile systems including phones, tablets, watches and glasses are becoming more interconnected and integrated, and smart fabrics present the potential for a fully integrated mobile augmented human.

Truths are Difficult to Accept

Progress is being made but significant challenges to the effective development and deployment of AR within the enterprise environment remain. And, unfortunately, the hype around AR and the initial example demonstrations (and concept videos) have created the perception that AR is ready to go and can be easily implemented and deployed.

In truth, many technical issues still need to be solved to enable successful implementation and widespread use of AR for extended periods of time. Organizational issues including culture, security and safety are other significant barriers that must be addressed. Most current AR examples are custom developed for specific, focused applications with highly controlled conditions. And, the AR tools and technology provider and developer ecosystems are still immature. The path to AR success is not obvious.

We Are Working Together

The AREA is here to address these issues among others, and to create an environment for organizations—large and small—to learn, share and accelerate the adoption of AR in the enterprise.

Within the AREA, member organizations from around the world have committed to sharing their experiences and challenges in a collegial atmosphere to solve complex technical and implementation problems. AREA members represent a unique blend of AR end users, systems integrators, content developers, and technology providers as well as not-for-profit research centers and academic organizations from multiple industries. Through a combined program of thought leadership, education and outreach, best practices development and communication, and technology and implementation research, AREA members are actively building the community and knowledge base that will ensure successful implementation of AR-enabled information technology environments across the enterprise.

Meetings Make Member Collaboration Tangible

By joining the AREA you will become part of a global AR ecosystem. Our shared vision for the potential of enterprise AR infuses our member meetings, like the one in Houston on October 22. We are learning and sharing best practices. We collaborate to define the best problem-solving research, and to support workforce development.

As President of the AREA and as a Sponsor Member, I am witnessing, firsthand, the level of knowledge sharing and exchange across member organizations. It is clear to me that the AREA is the only organization that provides this opportunity for AR technology providers, developers and customers.

If you didn’t get to our recent member meeting, then this website is the best place to learn more about enterprise Augmented Reality and the benefits of joining the AREA. I invite you to take the next step by contacting me or Christine Perey, AREA’s executive director, to discuss how you can contribute and participate.

We look forward to welcoming you and collaborating with you at a future meeting!

Carl Byers
AREA President
Chief Strategy Officer at Contextere

This post originally was published in French on augmented-reality.fr.

Just before summer, we launched a survey to better understand the strategies of Augmented Reality developers following Metaio’s sudden change in circumstances. This blog post presents the results of our survey and our interpretations.

We launched the survey in mid-June and left it open over the summer of 2015. There was no specific respondent selection and therefore we cannot speak of any representative sample. However, with 63 responses, approximately 30 to 50% of whom were English speakers,  we decided that the dataset was sufficient to be representative.

First, we present the results of the survey. We then offer our interpretations.

Metaio Product Distribution

Respondents were mainly users of Metaio’s SDK, and slightly more than half were users of Metaio Creator. The Continuous Visual Search (CVS) tool is used relatively little by our sample. Although it is not easy to fully know respondents’ use of Metaio tools, we can assume that the majority of respondents work in or near development because only 2 of the 63 respondents exclusively use Metaio Creator.

The Impact on Business

The impact of Metaio’s cessation of its offers on the developers’ business is important, even if 16% of respondents do not see the effects. While 40% of respondents said they have alternatives to Metaio products, 34% said they do not.

Open Source Solutions

The use of an Open Source alternative to avoid the current situation is mixed. Although the survey was not specific about the capabilities of the offering, sixty percent of the respondents thought they would consider using an open source option, but a quarter of respondents remained uncertain.

Software Development Kits

Not surprisingly, developers responded that, alone or in combination, Vuforia and Wikitude were the best alternatives to the Metaio SDK. Other proposed alternatives included ARToolkit, Catchoom and ARmedia. However, it is important to note that the third most common answer among respondents was “I don’t know.”

Metaio Creator

Presently it seems that the vast majority of users have not found an alternative for Metaio Creator. Wikitude Studio is popular but Layar Creator,  though popular one or two years ago, no longer seems a viable alternative. It is surprising not to find Aurasma in the options considered by survey respondents.

Metaio Continuous Visual Search

The results concerning Metaio CVS proved difficult to interpret as few people use it. Although Vuforia Cloud Recognition gained slightly more traction than other proposed alternatives, CVS users are much more divided on alternatives overall.

Open Comments from the Survey

Comments we received from respondents raise a few salient points.  In particular, Metaio’s technical expertise and advanced solutions were noted. Despite Wikitude and Vuforia having the same capabilities, there is currently no product in Metaio’s class.

We also see bitterness against Apple as well as an awareness of the potential fragility of other alternatives.

General Remarks

Today there is no obvious miracle solution to take Metaio’s place. The impact of the company’s change in circumstances on developers clearly demonstrates the overall fragility of the global Augmented Reality ecosystem. It is rather surprising to me that a third of respondents have no viable alternatives to Metaio technology. Rumors of Vuforia’s sale by Qualcomm may make the situation even more complicated in the coming months.

Paradoxically, these uncertainties do not help in the establishment of an Open Source solution. Although half of respondents believe this would be a good thing, a quarter remains uncertain. After discussions with several companies specializing in Augmented Reality, I felt a certain reluctance to support an open source system, primarily due to fear of losing an advantage in terms of technical prowess. There is much to say about this and I plan to prepare a more complete article in the coming weeks. In fact RA’pro will launch an invitation for a debate on this topic via web conference in the near future.

Returning to alternative tools, there is not a lot of surprise in seeing mention of the major market players: Vuforia, Wikitude, ARToolkit, ARmedia, Catchoom, etc. I am personally amazed at the few mentions of Layar, which seems to be a relatively major player in the AR print arena. However, it is true that the absence of a freemium model does not facilitate adoption by small businesses. The total absence of Aurasma and Total Immersion in the responses was also surprising.

As a final note, no one really knows if Metaio’s place can be taken since Apple has made no statement on the future of the product. We can however, presume that Metaio technology will be integrated in future products and will, therefore, lose the cross-platform nature that made Metaio products successful.

What do you think? Please leave your comments below.

Which of the many use cases for enterprise Augmented Reality should you implement first?

Selecting the best use cases for enterprise Augmented Reality introduction is arguably one of the most important steps that business managers will perform when exploring the technology’s potential to impact workplace performance.

During the ARise ’15 conference, Carl Byers, president of the AREA and Chief Strategy Officer of Contextere, presented key concepts and provided valuable recommendations for those who are planning to introduce AR in their organizations. This post builds upon those remarks.

Why Use Case Selection is Important

Careful selection of use cases for your company’s first AR project is critical for several reasons. First, the project will be used to choose the tools and to pilot the selected technologies while learning their benefits and limitations. Second, successful results will illustrate AR’s potential and help obtain buy-in for further investments from other groups and management.

The enterprise IT department is frequently involved with vendor selection and assessments of new tools. Since hardware is almost always involved in the delivery of AR experiences, the IT department may consider support for enterprise mobility management, connectivity and data security among other processes and objectives. The evaluation of a vendor’s training and support programs may also be performed during or in parallel with the development of the first project. Consider use cases that leverage prior positive experiences with IT introduction projects. A use case in a department that has not had prior IT-assisted technology introductions may introduce unforeseen problems.

Other departments, for example, human performance support and training organizations, also frequently feel they have a stake in how Augmented Reality is introduced.  Their interests need to be weighed and considered when selecting initial use cases.

Driving Internal Rate of Return for AR

The ultimate goal of introducing a new technology is to improve operational efficiency. Efficiency might be improved by driving down costs or time, or improve workforce productivity. Sometimes capturing the full value of a new technology involves organizational change.

When evaluating possible AR use cases, it’s important to consider how deeply changes associated with AR introduction may impact a business process, or multiple processes. An initial, low-cost research project in a sandboxed environment or an isolated field support improvement for one specific piece of equipment may be just right. But if the organization’s management is exploring more dramatic changes, AR introduction may be part of a larger initiative.

When considering the details of the AR introduction project and calculating IRR, it’s important to examine the productivity changes that could, once demonstrated for an isolated case, be applied across an entire factory or line of products and customers. Consider how a few small and specific pilots could meet your long term goals.

That said, it’s well known that large-scale change is usually slower. Should an AR pilot be considered as part of a larger organizational transition, the project may have to cope with many more variables and could experience greater delays.  The good news is that, if proven in the context of a broader change management approach, AR adoption may be driven from within as “just an integral part” of the organizational improvements.  

Complexity that’s Easily Tracked

Early resistance to AR projects has, in some organizations, been traced to the fact that the task or use case that was selected for AR testing was easy for an employee to perform unassisted. The lesson is that if there isn’t a pain point, AR isn’t needed.  Don’t waste valuable time, money or political “capital” of an organization.

That said, there are also risks in overreaching with respect to the current state of the art of Augmented Reality. If the user pain point proposed for a use case involves conditions that are difficult for current AR systems to identify or objects that are difficult to track, the technology may not perform reliably. Lack of reliability and repeatability fuels doubts and generally reduces the user and management’s appetite for the new technology.

Leveraging Existing Enterprise Data Stores

Developing the first AR experiences for a pilot requires new skills, methodologies and tools. Rather than adding to the project workload by developing new content as well, a use case can reuse or leverage existing enterprise data.

While some assets may need to be modified or adapted for mobile delivery platforms, overall project complexity will be lower and less costly when new AR experiences are based on existing enterprise data.

Involving Mission Critical Systems

Whenever mission critical or other high-impact enterprise systems are involved in an AR pilot project, the project may be escalated to management levels that are more risk averse: the CEO doesn’t want to do anything that might impact sales and stock prices, and the C-suite frequently shares that aversion to risk. On the other hand, if you can gain their support, their subordinates will be on board with the project and there will be fewer delays due to internal doubts.

The need for deep testing of any interface with a mission critical system, if that’s the route that’s recommended for an early AR project, is more costly and time consuming and may introduce unanticipated delays. If testing fails, integration with mission critical systems may cause the project to be cancelled.

Recommendations

1. Choose one or a few use cases where value can be measured clearly. For example, reduced down time, increased safety or compliance.
2. Focus on simple, practical, quick value capture. In the figure below we show how seven different factors can be weighted:
   1. Use a standard network architecture
   2. Design for bursty communication for longer battery life
   3. Identify where there’s large differences between novice and expert performance
   4. Make it easy to capture and repeat best practices
   5. Find use cases where some network services (e.g., videoconferencing with an expert) or special equipment (e.g., safety glasses) is already required
   6. Solve a current or recurring pain point
   7. Provide access to enterprise data systems via mainstream (legacy) interfaces
3. Thoroughly document all assumptions, steps taken and feedback, and share these with your technology partner.

Source: APX Labs

Choose and Choose Again

There are potentially hundreds of interesting use cases, and we’re currently building a use cases listing on the AREA site.

Choosing the initial AR use case is, as we’ve discussed, important but not the end of the process.

Frequently there are multiple AR use cases that can impact the operational efficiency of an enterprise. As a result, it’s not unusual for an AR pilot project to take workflows of multiple departments or processes into account. If this is the case, make sure the different use cases are well defined and the lessons learned in one project are captured and applied to others.

What are the initial use cases you’ve considered for evaluating whether Augmented Reality is right for your organization?

Want to hear more? Watch this video…

The AREA has a vision and, at the same time, we must remain pragmatic. Let me explain.

We’re all familiar with the myths about the industrial revolution: it happened overnight, right? Coal leapt out of the ground and formed coke. Iron became steel and the rest is history. Then, 100 years later, in the late-20^th century, computers profoundly changed what people could do with their knowledge and, using networked computers, silicon-driven industries revolutionized how people communicate and how just about everything—human and machine—works.

In the future, businesses will experience another transformation that will have a big impact on workers who have spent far less time behind computer screens than knowledge workers. Largely without the assistance of silicon-based computational devices, they move themselves and materials around; they build, transform, maintain, use, repair and even take apart objects in the physical world.  They are pragmatic when it comes to the introduction of new technologies.

Soon, the procedures these workers need to follow will leap into their line of sight and at their fingertips, endowing them with the knowledge of those who benefited from the previous cyber revolution.

Improving Workplace Performance

Augmented Reality-assisted enterprise systems will drive significant improvements in many operations, as measured by lower costs and higher productivity. Those whose work requires guidance, decision support or collaboration concerning objects and places in the physical world will, through contextually relevant visualization of information: 

• Be more productive
• Operate more safely
• Consistently comply with all policies and procedures
• Perform tasks with the lowest possible number of errors

But first, some innovative leaders have to take risks and make investments that may, as when Matthew Boulton continued to finance the research of James Watt, appear imprudent.

Who Are We Talking About?

The steam engine and industrial revolution did not happen overnight. It was only many years after entering into partnership with entrepreneur Matthew Boulton that the concepts and hard work of James Watt produced significant efficiency improvements by comparison with the earliest model steam engines.

The AREA recognizes that many investors will take risks before Augmented Reality is mature. There will also be many engineers whose brilliance of conception and practical know-how will be needed to improve the productivity of workers.

Who Are We Talking To?

We’re talking to you: the developer, the business manager, the IT group, the learning department manager, the innovation group, and the executive office.

You each need different arguments to persuade you of the value of investing in enterprise Augmented Reality.  Our content and informational programs are being designed to match the needs of these diverse groups of stakeholders.

Our target audiences are not limited to those in enterprises that are implementing Augmented Reality for their internal operational needs. We also recognize target audiences in organizations that provide goods and services to enterprise customers. These include the providers of core enabling technologies and vendors of enterprise IT hardware and software, as well as systems integrators of many kinds.

Pragmatic, Like Our Members

Everyone wants to quickly achieve goals towards AR introduction. But hype builds up unrealistic expectations. Disappointed decision makers may not shoulder the risks again.

In order to help all these different groups present their offers and, on the other hand, understand what they are acquiring or introducing into their businesses, the AREA is pragmatic.

The AREA’s programs are designed to simply and consistently:

• Reduce the myths and mysteries associated with Augmented Reality
• Help customers to establish reasonable expectations (where they can be met with existing technologies)

Pragmatism with practical information—not  hype—is as important as vision.

The AREA offers unique content about enterprise Augmented Reality that you won’t find elsewhere. This post shows you how to find and take advantage of all that the website provides.

When you know what you’re looking for, we suggest entering a few keywords in the search box.

Learning about Augmented Reality and Staying up to Date

We offer different types of engaging content yet navigation is easy. There are only six items on the menu.

If you are new to enterprise Augmented Reality, browse the pages under the “Why AR for Enterprise” menu. They are packed with articles on technologies, use cases, getting started and more basic information about this exciting field.

Visiting the AREA website is a great way to stay informed about trends and happenings in enterprise Augmented Reality. AREA blog posts, news and events are easy to find using these menus along the top of the screen.

AREA members are industry leaders in Augmented Reality and regularly contribute their opinions, ideas and insights to the AREA blog. We make sure you know about relevant industry news on enterprise Augmented Reality topics from around the web through our curated news pages. Finally, we keep you looking ahead by sharing highlights of upcoming member and industry gatherings through postings to our events calendar.

Member Portal

Some parts of the site are only accessible by members in good standing. Here all classes of members will find targeted content that helps them to get ahead in the Augmented Reality space. Examples include case studies, research, time-sensitive information under development by AREA committees and other upcoming features.

Currently member-exclusive content is found in the “Resources” menu. Join the AREA today to help drive changes in your organization and reserve exclusive access to our member network, content portal and more.

About the AREA

Finally, under “The AREA” menu at the far right, there’s a wealth of information about our organization. This includes in-depth profiles of our members and their achievements, our board, information on being a member, AREA committees for marketing and defining upcoming technical frameworks, the newsroom and our FAQ.

Our board members invest their time and financial resources towards the successful achievement of the AREA’s goals by serving on the board of directors and as committee chairs.

Our committees are listed on a dedicated page and members will use this page to access committee deliverables.

To learn more about membership plans and the process for joining, visit the membership information page and FAQ.

We Want to Hear from You

We welcome your feedback and comments. Do you have questions about the AREA or enterprise Augmented Reality? Can we help clarify any mysteries or myths you’ve heard about Augmented Reality?

Please register to leave a comment on this page or send us a message using our contact page.