Persistent AR Explained: Why It’s the Key to the Metaverse

howtogeek.com:

Augmented reality (AR) layers digital imagery and sounds over the real world, blending the virtual with the real. Persistent augmented reality extends the existence of AR content beyond when you’re using them, giving them a permanent place in the world.

Imagine that the real world had a digital twin. For every physical location on Earth, there’s a corresponding virtual map that’s overlaid on the real world. This map is maintained in the cloud and anyone with a network connection can access that data.

This is the AR cloud or “spatial web.” It means that any device with the right hardware and software can see this augmented reality world. Different users can share the experience and see the same things happening in real-time.

Of course, there can be multiple AR clouds that belong to different hosts. It’s like adding multiple dimensions to the real world, letting you switch between them.

Cloud AR and the idea of the spatial web are different from another type of AR that’s also sometimes referred to as “persistent.” The other type of persistence simply means that if you look away from an AR object, like a virtual screen on a wall, it will still be there when you look back. This type of AR object persistence is a key feature of mobile AR APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) such as Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore.

What makes it a little more confusing is that Cloud AR applications that form part of the spatial web also use this local type of persistence, but they are different concepts. One is about mapping and tracking the local space the user is in and the other is about keeping a record of spaces in the real world and mapping them to AR content, then making that information available over the internet.

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