Scape launches city-scale augmented reality to create immersion for use in experience design
Technology company Scape Technologies has gathered street-level data for 100 cities around the world, that it says can be used to create a new baseline for 3D mapping and enable city-wide augmented reality applications.
The collection of more than two billion images has been taken by the company's local teams and will help the transition to electronic devices of the near future, in which cameras don't just take pictures but actually see.
The company's ScapeKit tech, recognises the precise location of mobile devices outdoors, allowing AR content to be placed in exact geographic locations, enabling experience designers to create more immersive experiences via AR headsets.
This technology will also be used in self-driving vehicles, delivery robots and drones, all of which need to interpret the physical environment in more detail than ever before.
Scape believes therefore that a "new class of map" is required ‒ one that is "image-centric and can be used by devices to understand where they are and what's around them".
Cities included in Scape's project so far include London, New York, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo. The company said the images will be processed by its Vision Engine world-scale mapping pipeline, which builds and references three-dimensional HD maps from ordinary images, in the cloud.
The Scape system is different from Google's Street View, explained Scape co-founder and CEO Edward Miller, in an interview with PC Mag.
Google's system was built for humans to be able to visually identify locations, while the new data is intended as a "map for machines".
Miller was asked what Scape is doing differently from Pokemon Go's landmark AR app. He said: "That app generated a large proportion of the revenue in AR today, so it's understandable how much attention it received. But do you remember the trailer they ran when the app first got released? That promised full-scale AR and painted a picture of the world and what it could be.
"I believe Scape can fulfil that potential and bring it to life, going much further than Pokemon Go was able, due to the constraints of GPS. We'll be using not only cloud-based map generation, but also deep semantics and networked devices to provide a true city-scale AR future."
Scape Technologies 3D mapping augmented realityNational Geographic uses augmented reality to create world's first open-air planetarium in Canada
Apple boss Tim Cook eyes augmented reality technology as next big thing
Google plans to distribute AR platform Tango to museums worldwide
Augmented reality market to be worth three times as much as virtual reality by 2020, says report
Europe's premier Evian Spa unveiled at Hôtel Royal in France
Clinique La Prairie unveils health resort in China after two-year project
GoCo Health Innovation City in Sweden plans to lead the world in delivering wellness and new science
Four Seasons announces luxury wellness resort and residences at Amaala
Aman sister brand Janu debuts in Tokyo with four-floor urban wellness retreat
€38m geothermal spa and leisure centre to revitalise Croatian city of Bjelovar
Two Santani eco-friendly wellness resorts coming to Oman, partnered with Omran Group
Kerzner shows confidence in its Siro wellness hotel concept, revealing plans to open 100
Ritz-Carlton, Portland unveils skyline spa inspired by unfolding petals of a rose
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners are just one of the names behind The Emory hotel London and Surrenne private members club
Peninsula Hot Springs unveils AUS$11.7m sister site in Australian outback
IWBI creates WELL for residential programme to inspire healthy living environments
Conrad Orlando unveils water-inspired spa oasis amid billion-dollar Evermore Resort complex
Studio A+ realises striking urban hot springs retreat in China's Shanxi Province
Populous reveals plans for major e-sports arena in Saudi Arabia
Wake The Tiger launches new 1,000sq m expansion
Othership CEO envisions its urban bathhouses in every city in North America
Merlin teams up with Hasbro and Lego to create Peppa Pig experiences
SHA Wellness unveils highly-anticipated Mexico outpost
One&Only One Za’abeel opens in Dubai featuring striking design by Nikken Sekkei
Luxury spa hotel, Calcot Manor, creates new Grain Store health club
'World's largest' indoor ski centre by 10 Design slated to open in 2025
Murrayshall Country Estate awarded planning permission for multi-million-pound spa and leisure centre
Aman's Janu hotel by Pelli Clarke & Partners will have 4,000sq m of wellness space
Therme Group confirms Incheon Golden Harbor location for South Korean wellbeing resort
Universal Studios eyes the UK for first European resort
King of Bhutan unveils masterplan for Mindfulness City, designed by BIG, Arup and Cistri
Rural locations are the next frontier for expansion for the health club sector
Tonik Associates designs new suburban model for high-end Third Space health and wellness club
Aman sister brand Janu launching in Tokyo in 2024 with design by Denniston's Jean-Michel Gathy
Across Denmark, a charity is turning industrial buildings into centres for street sport and art. As the concept prepares to go global, we speak to the people making it happen
Designing an eco hotel for the Galapagos Islands that allowed the stunning natural surroundings to take centre stage while minimising its impact on the land presented its own unique set of challenges, Ecuadorian architect Humberto Plaza tells Kathryn Hudson