The Google I/O conference is over for another year. Though this year’s event was a little lighter on news and announcements concerning virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) than expected, there were still a few interesting bits and pieces.
Nina looks over the event to provide an overview of everything immersive that was discussed at Google I/O.
The first item on the list concerns an adorable little animated fox that captured the hearts of many. This is connected to Google’s new AR navigation feature that is planned to be added to the Google Maps app. This will assist in navigation by using the camera as well as GPS to pinpoint the user’s location and provide overlays to direct the user to their destination. The fox was an optional animated guide that might become part of the app in future.
Another feature of Google I/O concerned spacial awareness and the importance of developers realising that not everyone had the space to place a huge digital object in their living room. Another area covered was AR ‘anchors’ that made sure virtual objects stayed in place so users could properly explore them.
Social AR was also discussed, with a technology called ‘Cloud anchors’ that allowed two or more users to see and interact with the same virtual object. This allowed for shared AR experiences for competitive or cooperative experience, which is cross-compatible across Android and iOS.
Spatial audio for AR was covered, with a demonstration that had bubbles that emitted lines from Shakespeare when a user got close enough, done through 3D positioning and layering sound on top of the real world.
Some of the most significant announcements for use-cases for VR and AR were in the field of education, such as the Arizona State University which is now able to offer a VR biology course thanks to technology from Google.
The full video recap is available to view below. Further news on upcoming VR and AR events will be covered here on VRFocus.
via Mint VR