[ad_1]
The latest version of the Google Measure app. Door measurement! Table measurement! measure things.
The Google
Scale size and some settings.
The Google
Another day, another Google product died. This time around, the augmented reality app “Measure” is being put into the pastures.
As first spotted by Android Police, the Android app is no longer available via a Play Store search, and a direct link to the list shows a new message in the description: “This app is no longer supported and will not be updated. Users who have this pre-installed app can continue to use it on their compatible devices.
Sizing was very neat. Use the app on a smartphone to measure real things through the magic of augmented reality. Augmented reality tracks real-world objects in order to accurately place virtual objects in the camera feed, and if the tracking is good enough, the app can convert this data into a good estimate of distance. The measurement wasn’t good enough for applications like detailed woodworking – we found that shorter measurements were accurate to within half an inch, and longer measurements could vary by several inches – but the best tape measure is the one you have. Plus, the app works great if you want to measure something large, like a telephone pole, which would be very difficult with a tape measure.
Ads
Google kills the product View more stories Measure brings to life another dead Google product: Project Tango, which carried a smartphone with specialized sensors, enabling early mobile augmented reality on development hardware in 2014 and a commercial device, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, In 2016. In 2018, Measure reached regular Android phones without all the additional sensors required; Google’s ARCore Augmented Reality Toolkit has done all the tracking through its camera hardware. Measure was such a good idea that Apple released a similar app for iPhones in 2018.
Measure’s demise isn’t a huge deal as long as the underlying framework that powers it – ARCore – is still around. ARCore handles augmented reality tracking, detection, and measurement, and Measure simply presents all of that information in an easy-to-use user interface. There are many alternative ARCore measuring apps on the Play Store, and since they all use the same set of tools, tracking and accuracy should be pretty much the same – you mostly choose the UI you want. Some applications are in the style of straight rulers, while others focus on making floor plans.
Even before Google pulled the app, Measure wasn’t a great option compared to third-party alternatives. The app dropped to 2.9 stars on the Play Store, with many users mentioning bugs and freezes. The app does not appear to have been updated. The two third-party apps linked above are hovering around 4.5 stars.
Google still uses ARCore in products like Google Maps, Google Search, and Google Lens. Plus, at Google I/O 2021, ARCore got some new updates and APIs, so it looks like the core framework is here to stay.
[ad_2]
Picture Credit!