Building a Spatial Experience - Dent Reality @ NSLondon

Speaker / context

• Andrew, CEO of Dent Reality — ex-iOS developer and early ARKit adopter.
• Open-sourced a popular ARKit + CoreLocation library.
• Talk/demo focused on building practical AR navigation experiences for retail and indoor spaces.

Core technological concepts

• AR platforms
  • ARKit / RealityKit vs ARSCNView (SceneKit). Recommendation: use SceneKit/ARSCNView today for richer features, since RealityKit lacks many high-level features.
• LiDAR
  • Device depth sensors speed up plane detection when available, but design choices can remove the need for ground-plane scanning entirely.
• Indoor location
  • Sub-meter accuracy is possible but noisy. UX must be built around location limitations (stabilization/smoothing) to avoid jittery AR content.
• Spatial coordinate system
  • ARKit uses 3D world coordinates. AR content must be placed and oriented in world space, while some elements should behave like screen-space UI.

Product features / UX solutions demonstrated

• Two primary interaction modes: map view (2D) and AR overlay — users can switch between them.
• Compass view: large on-screen compass that lifts into an AR element when the phone is raised.
• Floating directional arrow: big 3D arrow positioned in world space (e.g., ~15 m away) as a primary navigation beacon.
• Screen-scale text labels: anchored in world space but scaled for constant on-screen readability.
• Updater system: centralized per-frame update manager to keep AR elements synchronized to the phone (e.g., maintain same Y-height).
• Fade distance: dynamic alpha fade so objects fade out as the user approaches (e.g., transparent at 1 m, opaque at 2 m) to avoid awkward “walking through.”
• Screen-edge indicator (HUD-like): shows direction to the destination when it’s off-screen (inspired by video game HUDs).
• Guidance markers / “stars” (dots): floating guidance points oriented between user and destination, positioned to avoid moving under the user when sidestepping.
  • Guidance dots tilt/pitch down ~3° and slowly pan up as the user approaches so end labels aren’t obscured.
• Minimize in-AR text: keep AR view lightweight; present dense information in screen-space overlays (regular UI) instead of floating AR text.
• Debugger / scene inspector: in-app scene view for debugging — view world anchors, arrow positions, camera pose.

Design principles & inspiration

• Take cues from video games for navigation affordances (edge indicators, fade, stabilization).
• Build experiences to match the constraints of the underlying tech — mask and stabilize localization jitter instead of exposing it.
• Prefer floating elements (air-based navigation) to avoid mandatory ground plane scanning and improve first-run experience.
• Keep AR interactions lightweight and immediately discoverable so nontechnical users can pick them up quickly.

Engineering / implementation notes & tips

• Open-source libraries: Dent Reality built and used open-source components (AR + mapping overlays, path-on-ground libraries). The speaker’s original AR + CoreLocation project became a popular ARKit project.
• Path-on-ground library exists, but ground paths can feel wrong when users sidestep; floating guidance often works better.
• Updater architecture: use a centralized per-frame updater for consistent element behavior.
• Anchoring text to camera: anchor some elements to the camera or use camera-facing constraints to maintain readability and orientation.
• Wireless debugging for AR builds remains unreliable; long Lightning cables are still commonly needed for on-device debugging.

Challenges called out

• Indoor localization accuracy and smoothing: making AR feel stable despite meter-scale noise.
• UX trade-offs between world-scale objects and screen-space readability.
• Debugging and developer tooling limitations (wireless debugging still problematic).
• Balancing polish/animation versus functional clarity — some fancy treatments add little to usability.

R&D / experimentation items mentioned

• Traveling salesperson problem for shopping lists: optimizing route/order for multi-item trips in stores (combinatorial optimization).
• Potential UX: animated transitions connecting compass UI to the floating in-world arrow (fly-out / fly-back).
• Wearables: interest in wearables, but many AR experiences will likely remain better on handhelds.

Hiring note

• Dent Reality is recruiting iOS and Android engineers and expanding the teams.

Q&A highlights

• Tried delayed-follow behavior for guidance dots; delay added a “catching up” feel and was not helpful.
• Animations and visual polish were considered but kept mostly functional based on constraints and user testing.
• Wireless debugging remains promised but unreliable.
• Biggest development challenge: indoor location technology and integrating it with a stable UX.

Main speaker / source

• Andrew — CEO of Dent Reality (presenter and demo author).