Spatial Computing Creates Immersive Experiences for Businesses and Customers Alike

Spatial computing works by mapping indoor and outdoor physical spaces — including the people and things within them. The technology then anchors digital content seamlessly within the physical world, enabling users to interact with it in a way that feels realistic.

Spatial computing relies on multiple immersive technologies, including:

• Augmented reality (AR): AR overlays virtual elements onto the real world. In the context of spatial computing, the AR aligns and orchestrates virtual content with physical objects to create seamless interactive experiences. 

• Mixed reality (MR): Mixed reality is the merging of real and virtual worlds, where physical and graphical objects appear to interact and integrate naturally. MR includes an underlying group of technologies encompassing a spectrum of immersive displays and interactive systems.

• Metaverse: Metaverse interconnects digital spaces in which users can interact, socialize and create. Spatial computing ensures the accurate positioning of users and synchronizes their actions.

Embedded technologies are also involved, including eye tracking to monitor what users are looking at, speech recognition to enable voice commands, and handheld controllers and motion sensors that enable users to touch and move virtual objects. 5G and 6G technology is also required to provide the necessary speed and bandwidth for real-time interaction.

Spatial computing has widespread application potential both inside organizations and for creating compelling and monetizable customer experiences.

Internally, spatial computing technology could facilitate collaboration and decision making in:

• Virtual collaboration for R&D

• Hands-on skills training — for instance, allowing medical students to practice surgical procedures on virtual patients

• Digital twins of construction, mechanical, electrical and plumbing projects to enable collaboration and problem solving 

For consumers, spatial computing technology could enable:

• Immersive entertainment experiences, such as attending a virtual concert and feeling as if you are in the stadium, or taking part in a live performance with virtual interactive elements

• Interactive navigation for context-aware directions and guidance

• At-home or in-store retail experiences during which users to try out and interact with products

Several challenges to the uptake of spatial computing exist. The biggest are:

• Cost: Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are expensive, as is digitizing assets.

• Siloed applications: Spatial computing apps tend to be built in a silo and not integrate with other applications. This presents a significant barrier to scale for many businesses and consumers. Protocols and tools to develop spatial computing are also limited, creating the potential incompatibility between spatial computing environments.

• Unappealing HMD comfort and form factor: The current generation of HMDs are heavy and visually unappealing, making it undesirable to wear them for long or in public. They also have limited battery power and tend to isolate users from others, which could limit use in contexts that benefit from direct human interaction.

• Lack of a “killer app” to accelerate adoption: While the potential is high, there is no single use case poised to drive consumer adoption, and then enable adjacent applications.

• Data privacy and security concerns: Spatial computing uses cameras and sensors to collect data about the user’s environment, actions and interactions. Organizations must protect this data and develop ethical and legal policies to guide its use.

• High-compute requirements: Technical issues, such as network latency, pose additional challenges.

To manage these challenges, prioritize spatial computing use cases that expand the use and reach of your products and services in the short term, and take proactive steps to protect customer, employee and citizen privacy and data with strong digital ethics and data governance policies.