Virtual—the wrong term. Augmented is more like it. Vision, that is. Respectively known as VR and AR, the idea is often associated with games and other light uses, but it has potential in many industries, including commercial real estate, through such applications as navigation, enhanced information for maintenance personnel, space planning, or instructions for people on how to use facilities.

"One of the first applications that get deployed off our platform are those that help [buildings] save money in operations by automating maintenance and repairs with more data to inform their maintenance plan," Gloria Gavin, chief business officer of AI and computer vision vendor Resonai, tells GlobeSt.com. For example, the company product lines have the ability to let landlords remotely identify maintenance requirements and determine the actions to be taken without having to first send someone to the location. Users can generate maintenance requests along with a photo. The technician then gets directions to and documentation for that spot.

More broadly in AR, a mobile device or specialty headwear can in some applications superimpose maintenance documentation while someone is undertaking a repair. The right instructions and diagrams can appear in their field of vision without having to refer to paper, making for more efficient work.