Dent Reality announces Apple partnership around indoor AR navigation
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Indoor Maps. Accurate Positioning. Augmented Reality.
What you need to know
- Dent Reality has announced a new official partnership with Apple.
- The venture is going to help Apple provide indoor AR navigation.
- It looks like the first projects will be available later this year.
Dent Reality has announced its official partnership with Apple for the provision of indoor AR navigation.
As reported by AppleInsider:
Dent Reality has become an official partner with Apple's indoor mapping initiative, specifically for AR-based navigation and indoor maps, the startup announced in a tweet on Tuesday. Andrew Hart, CEO and co-founder of Dent Reality, told AppleInsider that Apple spotted what the company was working on "early on," and introduced them to what is now the publicly revealed Indoor Maps Program.
Hart first built an open-source ARKit project, which he posted to GitHub in 2017, that solved the problem of tying AR experiences to real-world locations. Since then, Hart founded Dent Reality, a startup that's been working in the AR sphere — including AR navigation — for a couple of years.
According to the report, Apple is going to provide "underlying Indoor Mapping Data Format" and Wi-Fi-based indoor positioning technology. Dent Reality will combine this with its own mapping AR navigation technology through Apple's Indoor Maps Program.
Announcement: We’re now an official partner with Apple Indoor Maps, for providing indoor AR navigation!
— Dent Reality (@DentReality) March 31, 2020
We’re currently setting up projects for later this year. Get in touch!https://t.co/q0jYaUnJHGpic.twitter.com/aBrmvAEhLX
According to the report, the overall goal is to have AR maps that exist beyond Apple and Maps in other individual apps and on the web. Whilst there are no specifics as to exactly when we'll see this initiative, Dent Reality's tweet states that they're setting up for projects later this year, which means the technology may not be too far away. According to a blog post last year, Dent Reality stated:
We've built a full end-to-end solution that provides accurate indoor positioning, clear indoor maps with turn-by-turn directions, and AR navigation. Large organizations can now provide the best AR experience to their customers, simply and easily.
Hopefully, we'll get to see some of this innovation live on our iPhones very soon! You can read the full report here.