"With projects like this, we are contributing to the basis of AR technology, which will become increasingly prominent in the coming years. I find that enormously exciting," says Daniel Neubig, Senior Software Engineer and Head of AR.
For him, this moment is comparable to the introduction of the first smartphones: "Back then, people tried to replicate familiar scenarios with the smartphone instead of breaking new ground." Interestingly, however, it is not AR headsets that are currently the enablers, but the current generation of smartphones or tablets that carry the visualization of data into everyday life - partly because the headsets are still expensive and take a long time to boot up. Via cell phone, on the other hand, virtual layers can already be added to reality with a click.
The basis for this is what is known as Building Information Modeling (BIM). Here, construction plans are displayed in 3D, which until now was only a solution for the office or for architects and civil engineers, whereas the computing power for active use on the construction site by subcontractors was lacking.
Ergon bridges the gap here: The AR data simply needs to be uploaded to the mobile device beforehand - and the construction plans can be compared live with the construction progress, independent of local connectivity or further hardware.