Emerging Tech: Terminology & Acronym Guide

It can be a daunting task to keep up with the ever-growing list of acronyms and trending buzz words in the technology space. With the more rapid and widespread adoption of spatial computing and mixed reality technologies, we thought it would be helpful to dive into what they mean and how they differ from each other. 

 

Types of Experiences

○ AR – Augmented Reality – Digital objects within your real-world setting  

○ XR – Extended Reality – Less often used term for AR 

○ VR – Virtual Reality – Fully Immersive experience where you see none of the real-world 

○ MR – Mixed Reality – The encompassing spectrum related to AR/VR/XR

○ Marker Based – Within the real-world a QR code or some other real-world marker, or point of reference, is needed 

○ Non Marker-Based – No real-world marker is needed 

○ Windowed AR – Using AR via a Smart Device 

○ Immersive AR – Using AR via a Headset / Wearable 

○ Room Scale – An experience the size of the room 

○ Table Top – An Experience that is the size of a…table top 

 

Emerging Tech: Terminology & Acronym Guide

Global Terms

○ Spatial Computing – An umbrella term for the more immersive kind of digital experiences within the digital world, it is the engine that drives the core of the experiences, input and output of data from both the processing unit to the users’ vision

○ API – Application Programming Interface, is a computing interface that encompasses interactions between various software intermediaries.

○ CDN – Content Delivery Network

○ Wearable – Something that a user will wear

○ Tethered – A device that needs to be connected to another unit and or power source.

○ FOV – Field of View, how much a user can see

○ Hologram – Interactive 3D object that appears in front of the user

○ Light Field – The ability to capture the depth of a space

○ Spatial Mesh – The visual representation output of a light field that can be seen by the user/computer system

○ Digital Twin – Creating a 3D Model replica of a space or object

○ SDK – Software Development Kit

○ Eye Tracking – Tracking of eye movement on a headset

○ Hand Tracking – Tracking of the hands via a headset

○ Controller – Device held to interact with objects

○ TPU – Tensor Processing Unit – Processing AI-based information such as photos or video

○ A.I. – Artificial Intelligence

○ Machine Learning – Teaching a computer to learn a task

○ Visual Search – Uploading photos and finding similar photos

○ Voice SEO – Conversation Based experience that provides value to business/user

 

Coding Languages

○ WebXR – an API that allows developers to create XR experiences; 

○ React360 – a coding framework for the creation of interactive 360 experiences that run in your web browser 

○ WebGL – is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics 

○ Unity3D – Unity is a cross-platform game engine used to create AR Experiences

 

3D Object / Viewers

○ OBJ – 3D File Format 

○ GlTF – 3D File Format 

○ USDZ – 3D File Format 

○ STL – 3D File Format 

○ Model Viewer – Google’s 3D viewer for Web pages 

○ Unity to WebGL – The process to move unity experiences to Web Pages 

 

Cloud Storage Options

○ AWS S3 – Amazon Storage 

○ GCP Cloud Bucket – Google Storage 

○ Azure Blob Storage – Microsoft Storage 

○ DigitalOcean Spaces – 3D Party Storage 

 

AR Content Delivery Networks

○ AWS Cloudfront – Amazon

○ GCP Cloud CDN – Google

○ Azure CDN – Microsoft 

○ DigitalOcean CDN – 3D Party 

 

Hardware

○ Magic Leap 1 – Augmented Reality Headset from Magic Leap 

○ Holo Lens – Augmented Reality Headset from Microsoft 

○ Oculus Rift – Virtual Reality Headset from Oculus/Facebook 

○ Oculus Quest – Virtual Reality Headset from Oculus/Facebook 

○ Oculus Go – Virtual Reality Headset from Oculus/Facebook 

○ HTC Vive – Virtual Reality Headset from HTC 

 

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