London-based Scape Technologies has launched a new software development kit dubbed SDK-Scapekit which is out in beta and already available for download. ScapeKit takes a different approach to other SDKs by anchoring content to real-world locations across entire cities thereby enabling new and compelling city-based augmented reality experiences. This is quite different from the approaches taken by other AR SDKs such as Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore.

These other platforms rely on GPS information to find out a user’s location in the real world. Scape, on the other hand, relies on a huge database of visual cues. To create these massive visual databases, Scape staff traveled to various cities around the world and manually mapped them out afresh in digital form using videos. This enabled Scape to develop a massive library of visual reference points in various cities around the world that your phone cameras can easily identify and use to work out the physical location.

Scape Lauches for Hyper Accurate Geolocation
Scape Lauches for Hyper Accurate Geolocation

The company says this technique provides a far more accurate, dependable and flexible way of building geolocated AR content. The SDK is now coming out in beta so developers can freely download it and begin familiarizing themselves with it.

The first massively multiplayer online augmented reality game is Holoscape and it is powered by the SDK-Scapekit. You can watch the trailer below. The game does show some promise and probably represents the future of augmented reality games in cities. The game has some really cool features even though it still a little rough on the edges. Every player in Holoscape will have their drone which follows them around. The player can put down shields and turrets that others are able to see.

Holoscape constitutes a laser tag AR game that plays out right in the middle of London street. The player has to strategically mark out areas that they’ll cover and where they will provide power-ups assistance to friends upon request.

The game still isn’t perfect. There is no occlusion support and there some jumps in location. However, it clearly illustrates the impressively reliable Scape tech. Scape plans to scale this up into a multiplayer augmented reality game that will span the entire globe, giving players something akin to a more action-packed version of the Pokémon Go game.

Scape still doesn’t offer as much scope and scale as Google and Apple but the areas it has covered so far are quite impressive in their rich detail. Still, the smartphone is just the testing ground for the technology but the company is ultimately aiming to see its work integrated into the upcoming augmented reality headsets as well as in other areas of application such as self-driving cars where data such as accurate geolocation will come in handy.

Scape has also unveiled a tester app known as Pixscape which can be downloaded on iOS and Android. This is a promising start though it will probably take time before we begin using the Scape-based apps.

https://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Scape-Lauches-for-Hyper-Accurate-Geolocation-600x339.pnghttps://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Scape-Lauches-for-Hyper-Accurate-Geolocation-150x90.pngSam OchanjiAugmented RealityTechnologyLondon-based Scape Technologies has launched a new software development kit dubbed SDK-Scapekit which is out in beta and already available for download. ScapeKit takes a different approach to other SDKs by anchoring content to real-world locations across entire cities thereby enabling new and compelling city-based augmented reality experiences. This...VR, Oculus Rift, and Metaverse News - Cryptocurrency, Adult, Sex, Porn, XXX