A Comparative Study of Augmented Reality Platforms for Building Educational Mobile Applications

Teachers and educators are always trying to find new ways to use the available technology around them to impart knowledge to their students. This includes exposing them to activities that engage them in learning through innovative ways. Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that is starting to affect the conventional learning process since it has many potential uses and capabilities to introduce new ways and methods. AR technology may make classes more engaging and information more easily conceivable. Nowadays most young people own smartphones and use them in order to access social platforms, play games and connect with friends and their family. Thus, the combination of smartphones and AR for education is promising and still has to be fully discovered. This study aims to categorize the plethora of platforms available for building mobile AR applications and experiences, based on their distinct features and the capabilities that they provide. The findings of this study will assist teachers, educators and developers in choosing the appropriate platform to use when building educational mobile AR applications.