Obtain the device camera's Geospatial pose

  • The Geospatial API provides the device's location, altitude, and orientation using the Earth object and GeospatialPose.

  • Geospatial data is only valid when Earth.TrackingState is TrackingState.TRACKING; ensure your code handles other tracking states.

  • While pitch and roll are generally precise, yaw accuracy can vary and may require adjustments in your application.

  • GeospatialPose.getOrientationYawAccuracy() provides an estimate of yaw accuracy, with larger values indicating lower accuracy.

  • You can leverage the Geospatial pose to place Geospatial anchors in your AR experience.

Once you have configured your app's settings to use the Geospatial API, you can call Earth.getCameraGeospatialPose() to obtain a GeospatialPose that describes the device’s Geospatial positioning for the camera in the latest frame. This pose, managed in an Earth object, contains the following information:

  • Location, expressed in latitude and longitude
  • Altitude
  • An orientation approximating the direction the user is facing in the EUS coordinate system with X+ pointing east, Y+ pointing up, and Z+ pointing south

Check the tracking state

Geospatial values are only valid while Earth.TrackingState is TrackingState.TRACKING. Make sure to wrap all Geospatial API calls in a Earth.TrackingState control block.

Java

if (earth != null && earth.getTrackingState() == TrackingState.TRACKING) {
  GeospatialPose cameraGeospatialPose = earth.getCameraGeospatialPose();
  // cameraGeospatialPose contains geodetic location, rotation, and confidences values.
}

Kotlin

if (earth.trackingState == TrackingState.TRACKING) {
  val cameraGeospatialPose = earth.cameraGeospatialPose
  // cameraGeospatialPose contains geodetic location, rotation, and confidences values.
}

If Earth.TrackingState does not become TrackingState.TRACKING, Earth.TrackingState may be TrackingState.PAUSED or TrackingState.STOPPED. If neither of these conditions are true, check Earth.Earthstate, which shows other error states that may keep the Earth object from tracking.

Adjust the pose for accuracy

When the device is upright in the default orientation, the pitch (X+) and roll (Z+) angles tend to be precise due to a natural alignment with AR tracking. However, the yaw (Y+) angles can vary depending on VPS data availability and temporal conditions at the location. Your app may have to make adjustments for accuracy.

GeospatialPose.getOrientationYawAccuracy() provides an accuracy estimate for the yaw (Y+) angles for a certain GeospatialPose. The orientation yaw accuracy is a number that describes the radius, in degrees, of the 68th percentile confidence level around the yaw angles returned from GeospatialPose.getEastUpSouthQuaternion(). In other words, there is a 68% chance that the GeospatialPose’s true yaw angle is accurate.

Larger values indicate lower accuracy. For example, if the estimated yaw angle is 60 degrees and the yaw accuracy is 10 degrees, then there is a 68% probability that the true yaw angle is between 50 and 70 degrees.

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