AR navigation for Google Maps has now been available. And it is definitely one of the most exciting map features in recent years. In a nutshell In addition to GPS location, Google Maps finds its way by comparing the street view images and the view through the smartphone camera and can thus determine exactly the direction in which you are traveling.
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In AR-style, navigation instructions are displayed directly on your smartphone in the “field of view” of Live View, i.e. above the current camera image. In urban areas with poor GPS reception, in particular, you should be able to find your way around significantly better.
The compass of the smartphone and thus the direction determination in Google Maps has always been calibrated by movement in the form of an “eight”. Then you flutter wildly with your smartphone through the area and sometimes it doesn’t work properly – at least if Google Maps wants it to.
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Therefore, you now have an alternative ready: With “Calibrate with Live View”, the direction information from the camera image can now be used to calibrate the current position and direction. The narrower the beam, the more precise the calibration:
Like the calibration of the compass, the live view calibration is also hidden behind the pressure on the blue dot in maps, i.e. your current location.
A pan of several seconds with the camera should be enough to successfully complete the calibration. Calibration is available via Live View on Android devices with ARCore. The function already worked for me in the current beta version in the Google Play Store, but should also be available for users of the current, stable version.
