Google’s ARCore, which was recently renamed Google Play Services for AR, has new features in the works for its upcoming update. The next generation of the app that was launched early last year promises to make Augmented Reality (AR) experiences more realistic and accessible through Depth API and occlusion features.
According to a blog post by Shahram Izadi, Director of Research and Engineering at Google, “The ARCore Depth API allows developers to use our depth-from-motion algorithms to create a depth map using a single RGB camera. The depth map is created by taking multiple images from different angles and comparing them as you move your phone to estimate the distance to every pixel.”
Along with the added depth feature, Google intends to create more realistic AR experiences with occlusion which will help objects feel like they are actually in your space. Occlusion will allow AR objects to appear more realistically in front of or behind other real world objects. This results in a more believable scene by allowing AR objects to interact with real world environments.
Occlusion will be available in Scene Viewer, the developer tool supported in most Android phones. Google plans to optimize existing software, meaning that consumers will be able to use their existing Androids that were released in the last few years and support ARCore.
Google has not announced a date for the release of these updates, but it is likely that they will be showing up in apps and AR experiences some time in 2020.
This update to Android operating systems will benefit the business world in that Enterprises are increasingly in favor of developing Android tools. Android app development is more flexible for developers, allowing them to make changes quickly and to integrate unique features into their apps easier than in iOS. Worldwide, Android still leads the charge in the smartphone market as well, meaning this could get more AR apps into the literal hands of a much wider sect of the mainstream audience.
