Cobra,
I based my speculation about augmented reality (AR) eventually surpassing (or joining as another option) 3-D synthetic terrain on recent trends where AR “appears” to be replacing virtual reality in emerging graphics products for smart phones. Also AR is likely to benefit from phone manufacturers’ development of special chips that support AR. AR MAY also eventually require less processing power than synthetic terrain. Of course these 2 approaches don’t have to be exclusive. They could be joint options.
I suspect that seeing avionics info superimposed over actual images may eventually reach a point where the brain can interpret them more easily and faster than 3-D graphics images. I also think that phone located with a view through the windscreen would keep my attention focused more outside.
I genuinely believe that the use of AR in avionics will become prevelant (MY GUESS) in ways we can currently only speculate about. I hope the techies at iFly will be among the first to discover those uses for us.
Jim B