World Tracking (App)

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ZapWorks Studio's world tracking functionality allows you to position digital content in the user's real-world environment.

The position of content placed in the world will remain constant, allowing users to walk around, and view, the content from any angle.

World tracking builds upon ARKit and ARCore technologies and must be launched in the Zappar app or custom app equivalent to function correctly. If you'd like an environment tracking type for WebAR experiences, please use Instant World Tracking (WebAR).

World tracking works best in well-lit environments with distinct features and textures. A plain unlit surface will struggle to build a map.

Adding World Tracking

Studio provides a template for creating world-tracked experiences. This is available from the Tracking tab found within the Symbol Definitions import menu.

World Tracking Ground Placement symbol

The world tracking ground placement symbol automatically detects the most suitable ground plane in the user's environment, at which point the user is prompted to position the content in their environment.

This symbol is ideal for creating experiences that require objects to be displayed at real-world scale, such as furniture.

For further information on how the subsymbol can be used and edited, please refer to the World Tracking: Ground Placement symbol article.

The symbol is disabled after the position of the content is set. Content cannot be re-positioned while the experience is running.

Anchors

Anchors are used to define custom positions in world-space that should be tracked with the same accuracy as the ground plane.

Content can be placed relative to these custom anchor points, ensuring it stays tracked to that specific position over time.

Anchor points are tracked independently from one another and should be used sparingly when the position of, and spacing between, content should remain constant.

The world-tracking subsymbol mentioned above automatically places an anchor in the user's environment at the point where the user positions the content.

Supported Devices

World-tracked experiences require the target device to support ARKit (iOS) or ARCore (Android).

• List of Android devices that support ARCore
• List of iOS devices that support ARKit

If a device does not support ARKit or ARCore, world-tracked experiences will use the device's gyro to update its orientation.

Next article: Instant World Tracking