AR MeasureKit
Measure anything with augmented reality Free FROM Rinat Khanov, measurekit.com NEEDS iOS 11 or later
ARKit is a new framework in iOS 11 that lays the groundwork for developers to include augmented
reality (AR) features in their apps. We’ve seen all sorts of Pokémon Go-style ‘cartoon characters in the coffee shop’ demos, some of which are emerging as finished products. But AR has more practical uses, with a growing number of measuring tape apps rapidly filling the App Store.
Because they’re built on the same ARKit features, these apps all work in very similar ways, and AR MeasureKit exemplifies both the cleverness and the frustration of this emerging technology.
Open it and a live view from your camera fills the screen, which ARKit spends a few seconds analysing. You need to wave your iPhone or iPad gently around, which is what you’d do naturally. It may then ask you to point at a surface, and by this it means a horizontal, flat surface – for now, that’s the only thing ARKit really understands.
AR MeasureKit’s only free tool is the Ruler. In theory, you point your iPhone or iPad at whatever you want to measure, tap a start point and an end point, and the app draws a line between them in 3D space, instantly calculating its length.
Sadly, the first catch is that you can’t just tap anywhere on the screen; you have to get the point you want in the centre. Then you need to move to the end point. However, given the system’s limited accuracy, your start point begins to drift.
We tried out the app on an iPhone SE and an iPad Pro. If you thought wearing a VR helmet looked awkward, just wait until you try to measure a sofa with an iPad. The slightest movement jolts your centre point off target, and it’s no good using two hands to steady the screen, because you’ll need one free to tap it. The iPhone was easier to wield, and the SE’s older hardware coped fine. Arguable accuracy Under ideal conditions our measurements were about right – but they can be wildly wrong. If you were trying to measure something, how would you know? The way the lines drifted out of perspective as we moved made us wonder if ARKit truly understood where they lay in 3D space. This was also the Angle tool’s downfall, which couldn’t even reliably handle the 90° corners of a table.
We liked the tool that measures someone’s height. The developer suggests using this to record a child’s growth. But everyone knows roughly how tall they are; you measure to find out exactly. Unfortunately, that’s what ARKit seems unable to do. Adam banks
If you thought wearing a VR helmet looked awkward, try measuring a sofa with an iPad