(iTers News) -  The 8th InsideAR Munich ended up attracting 1,100 visitors. Hosted by Metaio, world leader in AR technology, the 8th annualized augmented reality, or AR exhibition and conference was a showcase for a string of novel breathrough AR technology and software, demonstrating how they work in sync with 3D cameras, 3D depth sensors, and smart glasses to  revolutionize the way that peprople interact with machines.

Highlighting the exhibition was Metaio 6 platform, the latest object tracking technologies that allow developers to create and deploy their content for AR applications.

Being the first AR software platform to support 3D-cameras and depth sensors, Metaio 6 enables developers to create more realistic AR applications. “We’re proud to announce that over 110,000 developers around the world are working with the Metaio SDK, creating AR and Computer Vision-based applications with our software,” says DR. Thomas Alt, CEO with Metaio. “Metaio’s overall market share has reached 40% to date, giving us an extremely confident outlook, for both the company and the industry at large”.

One of the most noticeable trends during the two day conference was that AR technology is maturing further and further from its niche roots to a mainstream solution for many companies. Firms such as Intel, Volkswagen, Audi, Lego, DHL, SAP and Daimler indicated during InsideAR not only AR’s arrival in industry, but also to end consumers.

For example, virtual shopping scanners and location-based services supported by AR, are gaining greater popularity. Based on such image and object recognition technologies, Metaio presented a demo on an AR-based shopping applications that enable customers to get rich digital information about products right at the point of sale. 

Metaio’s Thermal Touch, which can turn virtually any surface into a touchscreen by using infrared cameras, was available for live testing, too. Other cutting edge technologies including 3D cameras and smart glasses from manufacturers like Epson, Seebright, Vuzix, Oculus Rift and Google were also on show.