Trimble SiteVision Prototype Offers Accurate Outdoor AR Using GNSS

Trimble’s Mixed Reality Program head Aviad Almagor has announced a prototype that could help solve the problem of outdoor positioning for augmented reality. SiteVision is designed to be used outdoors for certain construction design and mining applications so it doesn’t require the complex locating technologies we use when we’re denied access to positioning satellites. Instead, it implements Trimble’s Catalyst GNSS solution, which uses software and a powerful antenna to locate a mobile device to within a few centimetres.

SiteVision combines Catalyst with a Lenovo Phab2 Pro. It uses the 3D capture technology to track the viewpoint and orientation of the AR device–information that is necessary for ensuring that digital holograms appear rooted in space, rather than jumping around as you move.

Together, Almagor notes, this makes “an efficient solution to accurately align the design models to the real world.”