GEOMAZE - The Urban Quest

Inspiration

Our journey began with a vision to bring the thrill of exploration into the heart of city life. Inspired by the concept of a mobile escape tour or scavenger hunt, we aimed to create an experience that would entice people to explore and interact with the world around them in an exciting, novel way. Our goal was to combine physical activity, education, and adventure, transforming the urban landscape into an engaging, interactive playground.

What It Does

GEOMAZE is an augmented reality experience that turns city streets into an interactive labyrinth. Players navigate through virtual pathways, discovering hidden treasures and learning about local landmarks along the way. It's more than just a game; it's an innovative way to explore cities, combining physical exercise with a deep dive into the history, culture, and story of each location.

Upon launching the Geospatial app, users are immediately directed to an exploration page. (Note that the UX/UI elements function as a conceptual demo and are not yet fully designed and developed.) On this page, users gain access to a range of experiences both near them and globally, including trending and highlighted options. Upon selecting a specific experience, users initiate the wayfinding process. Users can opt for either AR navigation or traditional navigation by tilting their phones up or down. Once the starting point is reached, the true exploration begins. Users navigate through unobstructed streets, discovering information about their journey and uncovering secret collectibles in augmented reality. Upon reaching the goal and completing the labyrinth, users receive an overview of their achievements. The seamless integration of AR and traditional navigation enhances the overall user experience, providing a clear and engaging exploration journey.

How We Built It

Our journey in crafting GEOMAZE was an exciting blend of technologies. We utilized Google Geospatial Creator for the core AR experience, integrating it with the Google Scene Semantics API for a richer AR experience. Unity3D served as our development platform, giving us the flexibility and power we needed to bring our vision to life. Initially, we integrated MapBox as a mapping solution, setting the stage for future enhancements.

Challenges We Ran Into

Our path wasn't without its hurdles. Understanding and utilizing different geospatial anchor types demanded some effort and learning. Implementing Google Scene Semantics into Unity's Universal Render Pipeline (URP) also proved challenging.

Accomplishments We're Proud Of

In addition to our core gameplay, we've achieved significant technical feats in blending the digital and real world.  These achievements include:

HDR Light Estimation: The experience adapts to varying lighting conditions, creating an immersive AR experience that feels natural and integrated with the real world.
Light Direction Based on Real-World Sun Direction: By calculating the sun's position based on location and time of day, our game dynamically adjusts in-game lighting, enhancing the realism of the experience.
Realtime Reflection Probes: We've incorporated reflection probes that react in real-time, mirroring the changing environments and ensuring that our digital elements maintain coherence with their physical surroundings.
Utilization of Scene Semantics API: This integration enables us to occlude the robot and information beacons effectively, based on the sky's semantic.
Fog Color Based on Sky Semantic: Our experience adjusts the fog color in the game to match the sky's semantic color, adding another layer of immersion and realism to the AR experience.

Furthermore, the scalability of GEOMAZE is a point of pride. Given the global nature of geospatial data, it seemed unlogical to create something tailored to a specific location. The strength of geospatial lies in its scalability, offering a canvas to enhance the real world wherever you are. Hence, Our experience allows for the creation of labyrinths or mazes in any city, making it a globally adaptable and expansive experience. This scalability highlights the potential of GEOMAZE to engage users worldwide, offering unique adventures in a multitude of urban landscapes. All consolidated in an app, enabling users to easily discover and choose experiences relevant to their current location or future plans.

What We Learned

Our journey taught us the importance of choosing the right type of geospatial anchors. We discovered that terrain anchors were more effective and reliable than manual altitude adjustments for our specific application, ensuring a smoother and more accurate AR experience.

To enhance the player's experience, we chose to design the labyrinth walls as opaque 3D models that hover three meters above ground, enveloped in a transparent forcefield. This strategic choice significantly reduced the immersion-breaking effect of people walking through the walls.

What's Next for GEOMAZE

Looking ahead, we're excited to expand GEOMAZE's capabilities. Our roadmap includes implementing the Google Maps API for enhanced mapping features, integrating Streetscape Geometry and Geospatial Depth for a more immersive experience, and designing additional labyrinth challenges across various cities. We are also thinking about small Puzzles: At various landmarks, players must solve puzzles or riddles to proceed. These could be math problems, historical questions, or even physical challenges like "take a selfie with the landmark."

Moreover, we recognize the prospect of collaborating with entities such as museums, schools, brands, and governments to create engaging and interactive labyrinths. The potential of these labyrinths can serve various purposes, including education, marketing, onboarding, and more.