During its I/O conference last year, Google showed off a new walking navigation system that uses the rear camera of a smartphone to provide augmented reality-powered directions to users. It works by analyzing the user's surroundings and then determining the exact position using Google's in-house Visual Positioning System, which brings improvements to the GPS experience.
Earlier last month, we've seen the feature live in action for the first time, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. At the time, though, it was available only to a limited number of early adopters including a few members of Google's Local Guides program. Now, the AR-powered walking navigation feature has gone live for Local Guides with the Level 5 status and higher as part of testing.
The service provides an informational overlay of guidance to users as they walk along the streets. It is worth noting that the AR directions only appear on the phone's display when the device is tilted upright. It reverts to the regular view when titled down, though there's an option to turn that off by default.
For eligible Local Guides, the feature is now available on Android and iOS devices. However, there's still no word on when it will be widely rolled out.
Source: Android Police
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