Google has announced that 50 new 3D augmented reality (AR) animals have been added to Google Search, with the likes of tigers, great white sharks, and emperor penguins able to be viewed up close. Google's AR animals can be pulled up on compatible devices to see what they look like and how big they would be in relation to the space a user is in at the time. They can be accessed directly from Google Search results.
AR makes it possible to overlay information or images on the real world via a device like a smartphone or tablet. It can be used for things like navigation, previewing potential purchases, playing games, or educational purposes. Google uses AR in a variety of ways and launched its own platform for building AR experiences, called ARCore, in 2018. Its AR animals are built in ARCore and were among AR features first added to Google Search in 2019 with the intention of allowing people to explore 3D objects close up and in detail.
The addition of 50 new 3D AR animals to Google Search is a significant increase in what was available and was announced by Google in a tweet. A full list of the animals added was not provided, but a video showing giraffes, cows, cats, zebras, pigs, and chow chows accompanied the announcement. Google does provide a more comprehensive list of the 3D AR objects, including those that were already available, that can be viewed via Search on its website. In addition to land animals, underwater and wetland animals, birds, and house pets, users can view human anatomical systems, cellular structures, scientific terms, and cultural heritage sites and objects.
How To Find AR Animals On Google Search
To view 3D AR objects in Google users need a device that runs Android 7 or above and that supports its ARCore platform. Assuming that is the case, users can search via the Google website or the Google app for a specific animal, object, or place. A cube icon will indicate if a 3D result is available and tapping it will pull up the 3D result for the user to view in AR wherever they are.
Animals are dropped into a space at their real size, so a giraffe, for example may not fit in a user's front room. It's possible to zoom in and out, though, to rotate the animals, and to move them around into the most convenient position. Then, users can view them up close and walk right around them in ways that might never otherwise be possible. From within the viewer, users can also pull up other animals to take a look at.
Source: Twitter/Google, Google