City-Wide AR Gaming with Azure Spatial Anchors

Abstract

We address the development of a prototype version of a city-wide augmented reality game using Azure Spatial Anchors. The prototype is capable of tracking and displaying virtual game objects on a mobile device and interweaving them with the physical environment. Furthermore, the virtual objects need to remain stable in their real world position. The prototype acts as an example to investigate the viability of this novel technology for city-wide AR games.

The thesis outlines the theory behind spatial markers and describes the implementation process using Unity and the Azure Spatial Anchors SDK. It illustrates the implementation of a game prototype and the changes that we had to undertake in order to maintain the game’s functionality. More precisely, we report how we adjusted the game flow and player roles so that we could use spatial anchors instead of image markers. In addition, the thesis specifies the problems and challenges we found using the new technology for city-wide games, such as our prototype. The challenges and conclusions are further discussed within the scope of a play testing study we conducted using the finished prototype.