Google's Geospatial Creator: Finally, the Google Maps Gorilla comes to the Location-Based AR Party

Google Maps is currently used by billions of users every month. But their latest software release “Geospatial Creator”, unveiled at this year's Google I/O, introduces an innovative approach to Maps — breaking the metaverse out of the virtual world and into the physical realm.

Geospatial Creator is a powerful new tool that enables content creators to develop geolocation-based augmented reality (AR) experiences by seamlessly integrating them into a 3D version of Google Maps. With its integration into leading platforms like Unity and Adobe Aero, Geospatial Creator can connect users more deeply to their surrounding environments, offering new avenues for immersive storytelling and shared AR content.

Creating AR Content in the Real World

The Geospatial Creator brings a new level of convenience and effectiveness to AR content development. Content creators can view a 3D representation of their city directly in their Unity editor window. This visual positioning feature helps creators with the precise placement of their geolocalised AR content, so it is more closely integrated with real-world surroundings. I’m excited to see how Geospatial Creator can provide a democratised and accessible workflow, surpassing the limitations of working with 2D maps.

It’s exciting to explore these new horizons, because location-based AR has the capacity to strengthen placemaking like never before. Accurately aligning AR content in the outdoor world is a huge technical challenge. So having Google do the heavy-lifting for creators is a huge enabler for the XR ecosystem.

Shared AR Content in the Metaverse

Geospatial Creator, along with ARCore, offers an answer to Niantic, Inc. 's Lightship SDK, taking a significant step towards shared AR content in the metaverse. Imagine you visit a chosen location, and can experience a shared and interactive AR environment simultaneously with the physical environment. For example, visitors to the Sydney Opera House could embrace an immersive, First Nation-led experience that shines a light on the forebearer's connection to that special place. The opportunities for education, cultural awareness and storytelling are profound with this sort of approach.

Photorealistic 3D Tiles and Aerial View API

Team PHORIA have been working with digital twins and reality capture for the last decade, but achieving the same level of quality that Google has (at a global scale) is hard.?

Fortunately, with Geospatial Creator, Google has launched the ability to incorporate their Photorealistic 3D Tiles and the Aerial View API. This enables developers to create immersive experiences using Google Earth's 3D maps without needing billions of dollars of infrastructure. However, the greatest benefit for creators is context. These tiles offer a seamless and textured 3D mesh model of the real world, incorporating high-resolution RGB optical imagery. With over 2,500 cities across 49 countries available, developers can visualise and customise environments, incorporating additional elements and real-time data like traffic information. The possibilities for creating immersive experiences and navigation within XR are vast, potentially setting Google up for the next wave of blended Mixed Reality (MR) experiences.

Speaking from experience - Location-based AR is hard

As I said before, pioneering solutions like Geospatial Creator is a difficult task, and one we’ve become very familiar with.

Back in 2019, we won a Webby Award for ‘Best Use of Augmented Reality’ with our social AR experience, REWILD, created with Netflix and WWF . With this project, the team focused on more scalable efforts to empower creators to build their own digital twin experiences. This led to the creation of ARConnect, a product that specialises in the activation of physical spaces worldwide using CAPTUR3D and Matterport Digital Twins. It allows users to create and deploy geospatial augmented reality (AR) experiences that are tied to specific locations.

ARConnect is a great solution for spaces not supported by Geospatial Creator, such as museums, schools and galleries. We’ve already put it to the test as an immersive education tool for STEM subjects, for wayfinding through parklands and also for accessing IoT information within smart buildings.?

We believe that digital twins are the foundation for overlaying virtual content and interactive AR elements onto physical spaces. However, we also suspect that AR is really a small step towards more immersive Mixed Reality experiences.

Challenges and Future Possibilities

While the Geospatial Creator and associated APIs offer groundbreaking possibilities, there are challenges associated. Firstly, it’s not available everywhere, there are a lot of special sites and places not currently supported. One key limitation is the imperfect visual reconstruction of 3D models from Google Earth. These imperfections may be noticeable, particularly in Virtual Reality (VR) experiences. Nonetheless, advancements in neutral radiance fields (NeRFs), sensor fusion and AR/VR technologies continue to address such limitations, paving the way for further innovation in the field.

What does this mean for the future of XR?

It’s great to see Google continue to back AR as a medium, and the recent announcement regarding a partnership with Samsung for a Mixed Reality headset is a good sign for what’s to come.?

However, the real elephant in the room is Apple, who has been actively investing in its own Maps infrastructure and 3D mapping solutions. We’ll have to wait and see what comes out next month, but you can guarantee that the team at PHORIA are excited! Bring it on.