Google's Daydream VR platform got a lot of love on the Google I/O stage, but the company has some intriguing plans for augmented reality (AR) as well. That includes what Google is calling its Tango Visual Positioning Service (VPS), a sort of AR GPS for the indoors.
As Google VP of Virtual Reality Clay Bavor noted on stage, AR is most useful when tightly coupled with the real world, which is exactly what Tango VPS does. Working with Google Maps and visual data from the camera, Tango sees features in the environment to give you hyper-local directions guidance.
Where this becomes particularly useful is with something like in-store directions. For example, Google showed off Tango VPS working inside of a Lowe's, showing how it can monitor the surrounding environment to help a user hone in on a specific product in the store. When combined with an audio interface and Google Lens, Google sees Tango VPS as something that could be incredibly handy as an accessibility feature.
