Spatial Computing and the Virtual Continuum

The term Spatial Computing defines the discipline that allows digital material constructs to be linked to places in space or to objectual material constructs.

Augmented Reality is a component of the so-called "Virtual Continuum", which ranges from Objectual Reality to Virtual Reality, via Augmented Reality and Augmented Virtuality.

Objectual Reality is a context where we interact exclusively with objects with mass. It is what we are used to call - erroneously - Reality or Physical Reality or Tangible Reality.

Augmented Reality is a context where the interaction with objectual material constructs prevails, but digital material constructs are linked to them. For example, a poster image or a magazine that, framed with a smartphone, reveals a video, an image gallery or other type of digital content.

Augmented Virtuality is a digital environment visible through a dedicated headset, which isolates the user from direct sensory contact with the objectual dimension. However, sensor systems allow the headset to detect the presence of objectual constructs and modify the immersive digital experience accordingly. An immediate example are warnings to avoid hitting an object, while walking to move within the parallel world represented inside the headset.

Finally, Virtual Reality is a completely digital immersive environment with which the user interacts through dedicated headsets, being completely blind to the dimension of the objectual material constructs. The processes within this virtual environment can be totally invented by the programmer or be reproductions of processes belonging to objectual constructs, as for example in the immersive visit to scientific reconstructions of archaeological sites.