The Relation between Augmented Reality and its Spatial Context Conceptualising the defining features of AR

Key decision-makers in Big Tech have raised the notion that Augmented Reality (AR), a technology that enables the overlay of virtual elements onto the physical world, will emerge as an integral part for the way we interact with digital information in the nearby future. A growing body of AR research has examined in what way AR’s technological particularities have implications for several areas of application, such as industrial, marketing, entertainment and cultural use-cases. What did not get as much attention was AR’s second defining feature that AR, by widely adopted definitions, is spatially embedded in three-dimensional space. Therefore, the purpose of the present research is to address the complex relation between AR and the space in which it is deployed. To approach the research topic an exploratory qualitative research design was applied, which gathered qualitative data through semi-structured, in-depth expert interviews with a heterogenous group of AR practitioners and conducted a thematic content analysis to examine the data and derive relevant results. In the course of the study AR’s media characteristics and the role of space for AR are conceptualised in order to examine the spatial relation. It was found that a purposeful application of AR profits from the interdependency with its immediate spatial environment and improves the user experience. Further, found implications of the relations between AR and space are that certain AR media characteristics, such as visuality and interaction, drive AR’s ability to mediate a sense of place and even allow for placemaking, which describes the social construction of place. The study concludes with the proposal to adapt the definition of AR in a way that stronger accounts for the importance of a purposeful spatial interdependency between AR and the physical location of its deployment.