How to Distinguish Between VR, MR and AR

Construction teams increasingly rely on Extended Reality – also known as XR –applications both on and off the jobsite. Extended Reality encompasses Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Augmented Reality (AR). Each tool delivers visual content and can support construction and design teams in different ways.

VR is a fully immersive experience, using apps and headsets that users wear over their eyes to block out the outside world. This capability is particularly useful for design teams who aren’t able to see a job site in-person.

AR, or Augmented Reality, uses a tablet or smartphone app to create a kind of window through which the user can see digital content overlaid on their physical surroundings. Mixed Reality (MR), on the other hand, combines aspects of VR and AR, creating that same window with digital content overlaid on physical surroundings but delivered to the user through a headset. Both AR and MR benefit on-site crews by allowing them to compare digital content to actual job site conditions, ensuring they are building according to plan and identifying unforeseen obstacles. XR technology in all its forms is catching on globally and will become game-changing technology in the very near future.