Convergence between the real and the augmented: Experiences and perceptions in location-based games

Extended-Reality Technologies: An Overview of Emerging Applications in Medical Education and Clinical Care.

As well as popularising location-based games, Pokémon GO helped connect location-based play with augmented reality (AR), bringing this still-nascent technology into the mainstream. Despite growing use of AR, its long-promised revolutionary potential remains stifled by limited innovation, technical barriers and lack of uptake by users. To explore how AR figures into location-based games, we analysed 11 location-based games with AR features. We identify four overarching ways these games incorporate the physical environment into gameplay: through superimposition, blending, immersivity and materiality. Our findings show that AR is most commonly a gimmick rather than a central element of the game experience and remains substantially hindered by technical glitches and limitations. While more advanced and deeply integrated AR mechanics are emerging, its use in location-based games remain far from the ‘technological imaginaries’ that have accompanied its development as AR continually oscillates between its status as a ‘mundane’ and ‘always-imminent’ technology.

Enhancing visitor experiences and economic outcomes through gamified AR: The impact of a Location-Based Augmented Reality Game in agritourism

Reality check

This paper explores the application of augmented reality (AR) technology in primary school students' linguistic and literary education. A review of current research on AR in education is presented, including studies on AR books for literacy instruction and reading motivation. The benefits of AR for enhancing students' reading comprehension, critical thinking, and imagination are discussed. AR features are analysed in new “Living Alphabet” books used in Ukrainian schools. The development of a mobile AR application for interactive reading lessons on fairy tales is detailed; this app allows students to actively engage with literary characters and settings in an immersive 3D environment. Pedagogical models employing AR applications, games, and theatre activities are proposed to improve literary reading instruction and foster key competencies aligned with the Ukrainian New School curriculum. The paper concludes that when thoughtfully implemented, AR technology can enrich primary students' linguistic and literary learning. Further research is recommended to prepare teachers to integrate AR into language arts instruction.

Augmented Reality (AR) games, in the education sector, have the potential to enable new forms of learning and transform the learning experience. However, it remains unclear how these AR games whose designs are based on diverse game genres can be used to leverage the conventional education process in the context of different theoretical paradigms and models used in learning. This chapter addresses these challenges by providing an analysis of game genres, learning paradigms, theories and models used in different AR games in the field of education. Hence, we present a selected number of previous studies of AR games in the field of education, which are classified by year of publication, school subject, research method, game genres, AR systems, learning environment, learning paradigms and theories, target group(s) and study sample size. The classified data is analysed to identify how AR games designed based on diverse game genres can be used to benefit the educational process in the context of different theoretical paradigms and models used in learning.

Traditional rehabilitation programs for children with cerebral palsy and acquired brain injuries aim to enhance motor and cognitive abilities through repetitive exercises, which are often perceived as tedious and demotivating. Extended reality technologies, including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality, offer more engaging methods through exergames. However, to date, no AR exergames simultaneously integrate cognitive and motor aspects within navigational tasks. Developing these exergames necessitates rigorous methodological steps, especially when using emerging technologies such as AR. The MIDE (Multidisciplinary Iterative Design of Exergames) framework advocates a participatory design approach, involving users from the outset, the objective being to optimize the interface and validate game mechanics through user experience (UX) assessment. Some researchers initially test these mechanisms on healthy children before applying them to clinical populations. This study aims to evaluate the UX of our AR exergames, consisting of two games (AR Corsi and AR Zoo), in typically developing children. Typically developing children participated in two 1.5-hour sessions. During each session, they played one of two AR games using the Microsoft HoloLens 2 headset: AR Corsi and AR Zoo, both of which are designed to engage executive functions and motor skills through navigational capabilities. UX was assessed after each session using the following measures: System Usability Scale scores for usability, AttrakDiff for attractiveness and game quality, MeCue for emotional experience, and Rating scale of Perceived Exertion for Children for pre- and postsession mental and physical fatigue. A total of 27 participants (mean age 11.9, SD 1.2 years) were included in the study. Mean System Usability Scale scores were 79.9 (SD 11.4) for AR Corsi and 76.3 (SD 12.1) for AR Zoo, indicating good usability. The AttrakDiff questionnaire yielded favorable results, with scores between 1 and 3 for overall attractiveness, pragmatic quality, and stimulation for both AR games. However, the hedonic quality "identity" received neutral scores (mean 0.6, SD 0.5 for AR Corsi and mean 0.7, SD 0.8 for AR Zoo). The MeCue emotions module yielded average scores of 5.2 (SD 0.7) for AR Corsi and 5.3 (SD 0.8) for AR Zoo, significantly exceeding the theoretical mean of 4 (P<.001). We observed a significant effect of physical fatigue (P=.02) and mental fatigue (P=.002) after exposure to both games. A comparative analysis of UX between the two games showed no significant differences. This study demonstrates that our exergame, comprising two AR games, is user-friendly and well-received by typically developing children, eliciting positive emotions and overall appeal. Although some children reported fatigue, favorable UX evaluation confirms the validity of the game's content and mechanisms, suggesting its suitability for use among children with cerebral palsy and acquired brain injuries.

Teknologi Augmented Reality (AR) semakin berkembang dan banyak diterapkan di berbagai bidang, termasuk industri konstruksi yang menghadapi tantangan dalam mempresentasikan dan memvisualisasikan struktur bangunan kepada klien dan pekerja di lapangan. Metode visualisasi tradisional dengan model 3D statis masih memiliki keterbatasan dalam hal interaktivitas, kejelasan, diskusi teknis, serta promosi hasil bangunan. Solusi yang ditawarkan dalam penelitian ini adalah penggunaan AR berbasis markerless location-based untuk visualisasi model 3D bangunan secara real-time di lokasi proyek tanpa memerlukan marker fisik. Penelitian ini menggunakan metodologi Multimedia Development Life Cycle (MDLC) yang meliputi enam tahap: konsep untuk menentukan tujuan dan kebutuhan aplikasi, perancangan arsitektur aplikasi dan antarmuka pengguna, pengumpulan data lokasi dan model 3D, pembuatan aplikasi dengan Unity dan fitur location-based AR, pengujian aplikasi untuk memastikan fungsionalitas, dan distribusi aplikasi. Hasil dari penelitian ini berupa aplikasi AR berbasis Android yang mampu memvisualisasikan model 3D bangunan di lokasi fisik menggunakan data GPS, sehingga memfasilitasi promosi dan visualisasi proyek secara interaktif. Pengujian aplikasi mencakup uji fungsionalitas, kinerja, kompatibilitas, user experience, validitas, dan reliabilitas. Hasil pengujian menunjukkan bahwa aplikasi ini efektif dalam meningkatkan pemahaman klien dan pekerja terhadap desain bangunan serta membantu pengambilan keputusan selama proses konstruksi. Aplikasi ini menawarkan solusi inovatif dalam visualisasi, promosi, dan kolaborasi di industri konstruksi. Abstract Augmented Reality (AR) technology is increasingly developing and widely applied in various fields, including the construction industry which faces challenges in presenting and visualizing building structures to clients and workers in the field. Traditional visualization methods with static 3D models still have limitations in terms of interactivity, clarity, technical discussion, and promotion of building results. The solution offered in this study is the use of markerless location-based AR for real-time visualization of 3D building models at project sites without the need for physical markers. This study uses the Multimedia Development Life Cycle (MDLC) methodology which includes six stages: (1) concept to determine application goals and needs, (2) design of application architecture and user interface, (3) collection of location data and 3D models, (4) application creation with Unity and location-based AR* features, (5) application testing to ensure functionality, and (6) application distribution. The results of this study are Android-based AR applications that are able to visualize 3D building models at physical locations using GPS data, thus facilitating interactive project promotion and visualization. Application testing includes functionality, performance, compatibility, user experience, validity, and reliability tests. The test results show that this application is effective in improving clients' and workers' understanding of building design and assisting decision-making during the construction process. This application offers innovative solutions in visualization, promotion, and collaboration in the construction industry.

This paper highlights the motivation for new participatory tools and methods in urban planning; and proposes optical tracking as a solution to improve Augmented Reality (AR) features in participatory urban planning software. Actual software and tools for smart-city-planning target only on the relevant administration staff, architects and other professionals. These systems create significant barriers for citizens’ participation in the planning process as they were designed with the professional user in mind. Professionals are used to work with highly abstract data, while citizens and many creatives would require much more direct visualization. What are needed are smart interactive and visual tools like in-situ-mixed-reality, combining the real location with planning data. The Betaville system, a participatory platform for urban re-design, combines all these features and allows all people to engage in urban planning. The project “Express Yourself/city”, a sub-project of “The People’s Smart Sculpture PS2”, works as a discussion forum, combining social and cultural demands for participation in urban development with new technical approaches. One goal of “Express Yourself/city” is to improve the usability of Betaville. To achieve that, the augmented reality feature needs to be redefined. The project “Markerless Adaptive Mobile Augmented Reality in Games MadMAGs” is dedicated to providing a solution based on optical tracking.

Location-based games are a highly technology-dependent game genre that has witnessed an exponential increase in popularity with the democratisation of smartphones as well as ubiquitous mobile data and access to satellite navigation. Moving forward into the future, location-based games can be expected to evolve as the technologies underlying the genre improve. In this conceptual work, we review the current state of the art in location-based games, and identify key trajectories and trends. We discovered 12 trends, based on which we jump ten years into the future and evaluate how current technology trends may end up influencing location-based gaming. For example, we propose that in the year 2035 through improvements in map data services and sensor data coverage, we will see locative games that are increasingly connected to elements in the physical world. We also expect to see gameplay that moves away from solely taking place on a smartphone screen to the adoption of multiple forms of interactions with location-based game worlds, especially as head-mounted displays and other wearables become more commonplace.

Although some recent research presents various uses of augmented reality (AR) in brand contexts, no overarching model exists to explicate its effects, justify its usage, or specify how it contributes to brand management objectives, such as customer-based brand equity. To determine if AR actually can support brand equity, the current article adapts an existing customer-based brand equity pyramid into a three-stage framework of AR and AR features (cf. 2D communication tools) as brand experiences, consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of AR as mechanisms, and brand equity (salience, meaning, response, and relation) as consequences. A secondary data analysis of 398 effects, extracted from 74 journal papers, published between 2010 and 2024, reveals three key insights. For brand managers, the findings detail the direct effects of AR on brand equity. For marketing managers, they describe consumer behaviours in response to AR. For AR creators, they demonstrate ways to develop purposeful AR experiences. The newly proposed Holistic AR Brand Equity (HARBE) model details the direct effects of AR features and mechanisms on each type of brand equity, which also enables managers to make rapid, evidence-based decisions about leveraging AR to enhance brand strength.

Augmented reality (AR) applications that overlay the perception of the real world with digitally generated information are on the cusp of commercial viability. AR has appeared in several commercial platforms like Microsoft HoloLens and smartphones. They extend the user experience beyond two dimensions and supplement the normal 3D world of a user. A typical location-based multi-player AR application works through a three-step process, wherein the system collects sensory data from the real world, identifies objects based on their context, and finally, renders information on top of senses of a user. However, because these AR applications frequently exchange data with users, they have exposed new individual and public safety issues. In this paper, we develop ARSpy, a user location tracking system solely based on network traffic information of the user, and we test it on location-based multi-player AR applications. We demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed scheme via real-world experiments on 12 volunteers and show that we could obtain the geolocation of any target with high accuracy. We also propose three mitigation methods to mitigate these side channel attacks. Our results reveal a potential security threat in current location-based multi-player AR applications and serve as a critical security reminder to a vast number of AR users.

Augmented Reality (AR) systems critically depend on accurate, temporally stable, and computationally efficient object tracking to maintain geometric alignment and perceptual coherence between virtual content and the physical world. As AR technologies transition from controlled laboratory prototypes to large-scale deployment in industrial, medical, and consumer scenarios, tracking must operate robustly in complex real-world environments characterized by dynamic objects, occlusions, illumination changes, fast motion, and strict computational constraints. Traditional geometry-driven tracking pipelines often degrade under such conditions, motivating increased adoption of deep learning based approaches. This survey provides a comprehensive review of deep learning based object tracking for AR in complex real-world scenes, with particular emphasis on system-level considerations. Object tracking is treated as a central perception primitive that underpins stable AR experiences and interacts tightly with modules such as visual simultaneous localization and mapping, depth and geometry estimation, and semantic scene understanding. In contrast to prior surveys that emphasize algorithmic accuracy in isolation, we explicitly analyze AR-specific constraints including real-time latency, temporal stability, energy efficiency, long-term robustness, and deployment on mobile and wearable platforms. We review major tracking paradigms, representative datasets and benchmarks, AR-centric evaluation criteria, and common failure modes observed in practice, and we outline future research directions toward scalable, reliable, and trustworthy AR tracking systems.

The perceptual behavior of consumers on a product displayed in the market has a vital role in analyzing the importance given to that product. Therefore, various strategies have been developed to understand this consumer behavior in the selection of products. Immersive technologies like virtual, augmented, and mixed reality are among them. With the foremost feature of immersion in the virtual world and interaction of users with virtual objects, virtual reality, and augmented reality have unlocked their potential in research and a user-friendly tool for analyzing consumer behavior. In addition to these technologies, mixed reality also has a significant role in investigating consumer behavior. Studies on immersive technologies in food applications are vast, hence this review focuses on the applications of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in the food selection behavior of consumers. The behavioral studies are elicited to develop new products based on consumer needs, to understand the shopping behavior in supermarkets for real-time usage, and to know the influence of emotions in a selection of products. The findings suggest that virtual, augmented, and mixed reality induce immersion of the users in food selection behavioral studies. Information on the technological advancements in the tools used for bringing immersion and interaction are discussed for its futuristic applications in food. Though immersive technology gives users a realistic virtual environment experience, its application in food systems is in the budding stage. More research on human response studies would contribute to its innovative and inevitable application in the future.

In this paper, we present results from a systematic review of research on Augmented Reality (AR) with a special focus on cognitive load (CL). A total of 64 studies from the years 2007 to 2019 were analyzed. The number of publications on AR and CL is steadily increasing. While studies are often conducted by multidisciplinary teams, most are from the US and Taiwan. From a methodological perspective, quantitative research methods with experimental designs dominate. Usually, studies are conducted as media comparison studies measuring effects of AR on declarative or procedural knowledge compared to one or more control groups. The examination of AR focuses on different components, with assistance systems and instructional materials being the most common. Mostly, studies are about see-through, marker-based, spatial, and location-based AR. Markerless or web AR applications are not yet in this sample. The influence of AR glasses on the cognitive load is most often investigated, followed by mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Among the survey instruments, the Nasa Task Load Index (Nasa TLX) is used most frequently; only three studies use dual task methods to measure the cognitive load. Implications for future research projects are presented and should contribute to the advancement of research on AR and cognitive load. More research is definitely needed.