Meta-Trends 2021 & Beyond: Part I: Augmented Reality & the Spatial Web

What are “Augmented Reality” and the “Spatial Web,” -- and how will they change our lives in the near and distant future? Combined with Augmented Reality, the Spatial Web, also called Web 3.0, will soon connect humans, machines, and AI worldwide in realtime. This will have the power to assist us in myriad ways, from entertainment, social networking, education, and job training to medical procedures, retail shopping, real estate, architecture, and advertising.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Those who have experienced the fully immersive thrill of playing in a virtual reality setting understand the otherworldly feeling of seeing, hearing, and sometimes even feeling as though in another time, space, or even dimension through an Oculus headset and touch controllers or sometimes data gloves, trackpads, bodysuits, Virtuix Omni treadmills or some suspension apparatus to facilitate a full range of movement or even simulate flying. This kind of experience is usually for gaming or entertainment purposes. 

Augmented Reality combines real and virtual worlds with realtime interaction, using true to life 3D representation of virtual and real objects. It’s an interactive experience of an environment where objects in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated information communicating visual, audio, haptic, somatosensory, and even olfactory sensations. It is the seamless coexistence of actual and virtual realms created for a specific purpose.

We can get an idea of the vast possibilities of Augmented Reality by using simple AR applications that allow us to sample consumer products in personalized ways. For instance, we can see how a piece of furniture will look in a room. Clothes, makeup, and jewelry may all be virtually tried on as well.  

The adoption of Augmented Reality may overtake Virtual Reality in the near future due to its myriad possibilities of industrial and educational applications and the fact that industry and institutional budgets may more comfortably sustain the now relatively high costs for hardware and software of VR systems. For instance, from middle schooling through college level and even medical studies, education may benefit from an augmented reality program where students learn first-hand lessons interacting with situations and tools not physically available but virtually accessible to all. Through this, new democratization of education is possible after an initial adoption period. 

AR is already very lucrative. Its market worldwide was valued at approximately $3.33 billion in 2015, and it’s expected to reach a market value of nearly $133.78 billion in 2021.

The Spatial Web

To understand what is meant by the Spatial Web or Web 3.0, let’s look at the history of the internet, including Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, for some perspective. 

In 1962, J.C.R. Licklider, Director of the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), was inspired by the concept for a new kind of decentralized computer network. He called it the “Intergalactic Computer Network” and described this as “an electronic commons open to all, the main and essential medium of informational interaction…” 

In 1969 Licklider’s idea was funded and named the “ARPANET.” It used a new approach protecting against a “single strike attack” by a network design void of a single point of failure. Through a new invention, “packet-switching,” messages were routed by data “packets” between a decentralized network of computer nodes. Through this network, the packet finds its optimal route from the sender to the receiver. A message would then reach its destination even if one or more nodes were compromised or even destroyed through the remaining available nodes. This was eventually known as the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). 

As more nodes joined from the original 4 in 1969 to millions today, the more decentralized, secure, and essential the internet has become. If this sounds very familiar to what we have been experiencing with the advent of distributed ledger technologies and blockchain, it is because it is. Decentralization was the genesis of the internet, but it was lost along the way with the internet's commercialization. 

What is now known as Web 1.0 began as read-only data communication on computers the size of entire rooms. This evolved into personal computers and laptops, exchanging emails, images, videos, and more. Web 2.0 became the next level of interconnectedness via smartphones and wearables fueled by social media platforms’ omnipresence. Soon we will surpass 50 billion nodes worldwide. 

What will be called Web 3.0 or the “Spacial Web” has the potential to transform our lives, impacting nearly every industry. It is a computing environment in three-dimensional space. A trillion new sensors, beacons, and other devices will soon be added to our world, creating the Internet of Things (IoT) assisting us in transportation, home maintenance, shopping, agriculture, and manufacturing by connecting various needs -- from a low battery of an electric car to a crop that needs fertilizing, with each respective source for meeting these needs. 

Combining these Elements 

A critical component of this next level of interconnectedness will be 5G networks. These upgraded networks will support the exponentially increased amount of data exchanged between sensors, nodes, real objects, virtual ones, organizations, and individuals on the Spatial Web -- all in realtime with the power to deliver downloads and streaming at rates from 10 to up to 100 times that of 4G. The 100Mb/s - 10Gb/s connection speed of 5G will be fast enough to download a two-hour movie in less than 10 seconds (versus about 7 minutes via 4G).

Blockchain technology will assist Augmented Reality and the Spatial Web with security, anonymity, and more data storage. The immutable quality of blockchain will lend much-needed security and transparency. Cryptography will provide pseudo-anonymity if not pure anonymity. IEEE Access published a paper on the “Spatial Blockchain-Based Secure Mass Screening Framework for Children With Dyslexia” as an example of this. 

Since AR requires such extensive computing power, single GPUs are not enough. Blockchain may enable distributed GPU processing power. Today, blockchains specifically dedicated to AR holographic processing are being developed. One example is the Render Network RNDR, which aims to create the world’s largest distributed GPU network.

The combination of Augmented Reality and the Spacial Web has the power to transform our everyday lives and almost every industry in the world today. Follow us at Beyond Enterprizes as we look beyond to see the potential of new technologies.