# A Review on Augmented Reality in Education and Geography: State of the Art and Perspectives
## 6 Augmented Reality Sandbox
For example, in a CAD environment, this would be difficult to achieve through a mouse and keyboard, as there would be only a computer simulation, not a real, interactive one. Moreover, the AR application can be a fantastic way of improving collaboration between students from different branches of specialization. For example, AR Sandbox can bring together students from architecture, urban design, earth engineers, water engineers, land economics, and many more, as these implementations have a lot of functionalities to offer: water simulations, shadows and solar radiation simulations, least cost of passage, land erosion simulations. In addition, AR Sandbox could be used not only by students who are learning geography or other subjects, but also by non-specialists who would only want to experiment with the geography field and the creation of topographic maps. People often feel comfortable modeling sand, clay, or glass beads to test their own scenarios instead of using cumbersome applications that are based on CAD. According to [34], the Department of Urban Studies and Planning of the University of Minnesota used the Illuminating Clay devices to teach a class. After they finished, the teachers were asked about their opinion on the AR application, and they were thrilled. The professors admitted that the system simplified the whole process of teaching, and the basic principles of contour lines, of topography, and how a topographic map was created, were much simpler to explain. Additionally, they observed the fact that in CAD environments, only one student could work on a project. Now, everybody could contribute, facilitating the teamwork. Also, AR Sandbox, even though it is an AR application, does not use screens, and this could benefit young students, as they are using phones and screens for long periods. Through this, the students can lower their exposure to blue light, which is extremely dangerous to the eyes and to mental health, provoking many cases of anxiety. Lastly, the students can use the AR Sandbox to make the transition from a static way of learning geography to a more dynamic way. So, through this application, the students can visualize and model the sand to form topographic maps, rather than just using maps that are 2D models. Of course, like any devices, there are a couple of disadvantages in using the AR Sandbox. First, the students could become cognitively overwhelmed, like in the case of any other AR device. For example, if the students are undergoing fast transitions between the models and they are given a great number of explanations, an overwhelming feeling could be produced because they were used to learning through maps and other didactical materials [38]. Also, when it comes to details in the water simulation and even in the topographic models, the CAD environments and applications are better and more detailed. This can be a downside if someone wants to work with the AR Sandbox and puts great hope in the details. For example, the water simulations and land erosion are more versatile and easier to follow than those in the AR Sandbox. Lastly, the students who are not used to playing with AR applications can find using AR Sandbox quite hard. Like for the rest of the AR applications, it is recommended that, for the first time, somebody with experience in using AR applications show the students how to use it and what rules to follow to not break it. By doing this, not only could the new students in AR learn how they can use the technology, but they could also instruct other students during their turns. In the next table, Table 2, a short but comprehensive comparative analysis between the three implementations of AR Sandbox, Illuminating Clay, SandScape, and AR Sandbox, is presented. As can be seen in Table 2, the maneuverability of the Illuminating Clay is the best among the three implementations, as it requires only a support for the clay. For the SandScape and for the AR Sandbox, because there is a need for a box to sustain the materials used, the authors built a frame.