Google’s ARCore Depth API enables AR depth maps and occlusion with one camera

Android augmented reality is about to take some nice steps forward today, as Google is adding a major new feature to its ARCore toolkit for developers: a Depth API capable of creating depth maps with a single device camera. Rather than requiring differential data gathered from two cameras or a dedicated time of flight sensor, the new Depth API will automatically snap multiple images as you move a single camera around and then compare the images to estimate your distance from each pixel.

Alone, that feature would be impressive, but Google’s intended use of the API is even better: occlusion, a trick by which digital objects can appear to be overlapped by real-world objects, blending the augmented and real worlds more seamlessly than with mere AR overlays. Starting today, occlusion is available in Scene Viewer — a Google developer tool for AR in Search — to over 200 million Android devices with ARCore.