# Mixed Reality: A Reconsideration Based on Mixed Objects and Geospatial Modalities
## 5 Discussion  
This paper presents both an argument for a more expansive, inclusive, and holistic reconceptualization of the term MR, and a tangible example as an instance of its practical realization. Thus, this paper contributes to three main fashions: an explanation is provided of the concept of Mixed Object in theoretical as well as practical terms. Furthermore, Geospatial Linking Modalities are introduced as a means to enrich the potential of a more comprehensive and meaningful MR experience. Geospatial data input is crucial, and provisions (such as QR code tags) are incorporated. Moreover, in this paper, a new approach with respect to the very term MR is delineated with an emphasis on the potential of mixed objects and enhanced input/output provisions and linking modalities. MR has been foregrounded as effectively a tripartite affair, in accordance with Microsoft's approach as it involves human-computer-environment interaction, physical data acquired and translated to generate digital properties via geospatial linking modalities. In this model, physical objects in the environment become perceived not only by humans but as mapped objects by computers, in a close approximation of their spatial/physical properties, allowing for interrelation with virtual, computer-generated objects mainly in the forms of interaction such as occlusion. In a sense, this model presented here is based on the ability of all three \"input\" and \"output\" factors engaged (namely, users, digital devices, and the actual world) to effectively exchange data and all the more, to become aligned in the sense that computers can perceive the physical environment (e.g., buildings) in a way akin to that of humans, thereby \"sharing views\" and fusing them under an MR paradigm proper. A pivotal contribution of this paper is the schematic description of the interrelations of the factors involved in an MR ecosystem based on the concept of the Mixed Object and conditioned by the use of geoinformation technologies, as illustrated in Figure 6. It delineates the input and output modalities involved, which in turn rely on certain devices, technologies, and languages with which data become translated or perceived within processes that regulate human-computer interfacing in general. Reading this scheme clockwise, from the top, Object input devices such as (handheld) device cameras, or GPS devices, capture physical data. Moreover, contemporary 3D mapping equipment, such as UAVs with high-resolution cameras and photogrammetrical software, deploy high-quality DSM/DTM information. The physical data are then translated into a form that the computer can \"understand\" and further process. Making raw data perceptible by a computer (thus enabling computers to make meaning from physical data) takes place through a variety of conversion processes that the scheme refers to under the description \"object input language\". It is possible to use 3D mapping methods, for example, to turn physical objects such as e.g., buildings, into digital entities that the MR system can process, understand, and interrelate with purely virtual objects. In the heart of the space where the computer and environment overlap in the scheme, is the notion of perception (of the environment by the machine) as well as the Mapped Object, which is a crucial factor for achieving this perceptibility (of the digital device). This perception then enables and triggers the output linking modalities in an opposite way, starting with the Object output language that will translate the digital processes of visualization through e.g., 3D graphics procedures, blend modes and the use of game engines, the way the computer perceives the actual world, into (mostly) imagery. The computer-generated imagery (as well as other sensuous and spatial data) is described as generated physical data that will take the form of perceptible (and meaningful) visual/sensuous data for end-users.