ARCore and its gigantic impact on the AR landscape

Being launched as a limited preview in the August 2017 and then announcing Google lens officially in October, Google was all set to give Apple’s ARKit a smacking technological battle. If you are not well versed with ARCore, it is a baked-in augmented reality platform for the developers which comes as a good extension to Google originally existing AR platform, Tango.

What is ARCore?

ARCore brings a scale to Google’s augmented reality ambitions that directly working with OEM’s was never happening. ARCore primarily works on detecting horizontal planes, managing device’s own motion and light estimation which actually turns out pretty cool to see in action. It can be best described as a platform that allows digital objects to be lit based on the environment.

As put together by Google, it comprises of three main components. The first being Motion tracking which figures out the Phone’s relative location based on internal sensors and video footages allowing the user to pin objects and walk around them. The second is Environmental Understanding that provides the camera enough power to detect flat surfaces and overlay digital images in the real world. The third is Light estimation which helps the virtual props cast accurate shadows and fit in real time surroundings.

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It is relatively similar to Apple’s ARKit except that the experience ARCore offers is much seamless and smoother. The virtual props don’t tend to jitter and give the best phone-based AR exposure ever.

AR Trends in #BuiltwithARCore

Who let the Demogorgons out? 🤪 Built with #ARCore, shot by @JoshLiebe pic.twitter.com/wompRAWoDa

— Built With ARCore (@builtwithARCore) December 15, 2017

Now if we got you a quick knack of ARCore lets us dive into the impact it can have on the AR landscape.

Impact of ARCore on AR Landscape:

Since Google rolled out the latest ARCore update (v1.0) quite recently with support available on devices with Android version 7.0 Nougat and above, the company is expected to make a major push to bring Augmented Reality in the mainstream for Android users.

1. For potential marketing:

With so plenty of earlier implementations of AR framework into popular games like PokemonGo and Ingress by Niantic, AR also finds a better place in the marketing world. The best example is Porsche’s AR Imagine app that uses the power of AR technology and brings 3-D graphics into the real world space. It uses Augmented reality to configure your dream Porsche! Right from the exterior paint to the interior design, you can do it all.

Even Google to promote its ARCore worked with Snap for a tour of Barcelona’s famous Nou soccer stadium accessed via a virtual portal.

Read More: ARCore vs ARKit - Who'll Win Google or Apple?

2. Futuristic app designs:

AR framework obviously lends itself to the gaming segment but now that we have seen such a positive entry from the two tech giants, the possibilities just seem endless. All you need is a great app development team by your side that can extend their capabilities to AR regardless of what app type it may be. Apps like Solar simulator (lets users to place the solar system in their homes) and Booty Traps (ghost pirate treasure) are just to name a few.

Read More: Impact of Apple's ARkit in Augmented Reality

3. Room for Improvements:

It is an undeniable fact that the Android ecosystem is vast and by the end of the last year there were more than two billion Android phones in use compared to 700 million iPhones. Only a 100 million Android phones with modern cameras and sensors will be able to support AR capabilities but the proportion is set to grow in the coming years.

Well, after Google launched the ARCore framework for a number of non-pixel devices last month, a handful of AR apps have started to appear in the Google Playstore. Along with the new apps, the old augmented reality apps have been updated for the framework.

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