WebAR Explained: What it is and How it Works

Augmented reality (AR) merges contextual digital content onto our real-world environments for more intuitive and engaging experiences. While the AR market is predicted to reach $300 billion globally by 2024, adoption has been somewhat limited to date due to app friction and platform fractures.

WebAR now breaks those barriers with the promise of simple, cross-platform AR reachable via regular web links. Let‘s examine what makes this technology so compelling for enterprises, how WebAR builds on browser evolution, key capabilities unlocked today, limitations to consider, and the roadmap for richer, more immersive applications in the years ahead.

What is WebAR and Why Does it Matter?

WebAR, short for web-based augmented reality, refers to AR experiences completely powered by web browsers without needing any specialized apps or hardware.

For users, it enables tapping into advanced AR use cases like:

• Virtually trying on sunglasses
• Visualizing how furniture fits a room
• Getting up-close with museum artifacts
• Collaborating on 3D designs

with just a click of a website link on their smartphone. No app installs or account set ups required to access these next-generation experiences.

For companies and developers, WebAR promises:

• Faster time-to-market over native apps
• Broader reach – over 80% smartphone penetration globally enables billions of addressable users
• Better iterate – content changes sync instantly, no app store reviews
• Lighter web payloads vs large apps

With usages across retail, workplace collaboration, healthcare and education, WebAR‘s addressable market sits at nearly $70 billion according to analysis by TechCrunch. And platforms are now emerging to streamline building and deploying these experiences at scale.

Under The Hood: How Browsers Evolved for WebAR

Delivering augmented reality requires tapping into mobile hardware like cameras, motion sensors and graphics pipelines. Historically web browsers offered limited access due to security and compatibility considerations.

But driven by the rise of immersive computing use cases, standards bodies ratified secure interfaces enabling WebAR capabilities:

• WebXR – Cross-browser mechanism for VR/AR rendering
• WebRTC – Real-time media capture and streaming
• WebGL – Hardware-accelerated 3D graphics
• WebUSB / WebBluetooth – Hardware access protocols

These advances allow browsers to render interactive 3D scenes tuned to physical spaces. Frameworks handle environment understanding, lighting, occlusion and anchoring AR objects.

The security tradeoffs require careful evaluation however – while these APIs unlock the next generation of applications, they heighten privacy risks with persistent sensor access now possible via the browser. As tools democratize tapping into cameras and motion data, enthusiasts building their first WebAR experiments may lack the security diligence ingrained in mature engineering teams. Expect browser vendors to ratchet permission prompts and sandboxing in parallel to maintain user trust.

WebAR Platforms and Frameworks

Developers have multiple options to build WebAR content today fitting different audiences and use cases:

For example, here is a simple WebAR example using AR.js with HTML:

<script src="https://jeromeetienne.github.io/AR.js/aframe/build/aframe-ar.js"> </script>

<a-scene embedded arjs>

  <a-box position="0 0.5 0" material="opacity: 0.5;"> </a-box>

  <a-marker-camera preset="hiro"> </a-marker-camera>

</a-scene>

The a-frame HTML framework streamlines scene construction and coordinate handling. The hiro marker activates the camera, with box placing AR content atop surfaces detected.

While simple, this valid WebAR leverages no native code at all – just web languages front-end developers already use! Expect more libraries providing higher-level abstractions over base platforms like WebXR for quicker development.

Current Limitations and Challenges

Even as WebAR removes app friction to make AR more accessible, developers should thoughtfully weigh its tradeoffs:

Until compatibility issues resolve via standards convergence, developers should thoroughly test experiences across target devices and browsers.

The mobile hardware roadmap promises continued AR performance improvements however – 120hz displays, depth/LiDAR sensing and 5G connectivity expanding on flagship devices through the mid-range. Complex occlusion, physics and lighting that challenges today‘s processors will become commonplace.

The Road Ahead: Richer Cross-Reality Experiences

The building blocks now exist to overlay lightweight contextual digital content into real-world views for more intuitive interactions. But upcoming innovations stand to enable far richer blended reality environments as well.

5G Networks: Fiber-like bandwidth and single-digit millisecond latency will allow offloading heavy render workloads into the cloud while keeping registration tight. Expect high-fidelity lifelike human avatars and semantics-understanding spaces.

AI-Assisted Content Generation: Generative deep learning models can synthesize endless personalized assets to match surroundings – everything from 3D geometry to ambient audioscapes.

Spatial Computing Devices: Lightweight augmented reality headsets will transition WebAR’s 2D information overlays into immersive 3D environments usable all-day. Think consumer HoloLens capabilities untethered from PCs.

As these trends converge in the 2020s, our digital and physical worlds seamlessly combine at both enterprise and human scales, anchored seamlessly into every business or social context. Professional roles fuse AR capabilities spanning designers to marketers, educators to doctors, creators to specialists.

WebAR represents the critical first bridge to this world overlaying intelligently responsive digital information into our physical environments. The technology building blocks now exist – where might you start crafting the future with augmented reality?