[Feature Request] Geolocation Module

[coopbri]

Geolocation functionality unlocks use cases for AR, such as content anchored at physical locations, GPS integration.

Prior art:

• https://www.8thwall.com/docs/studio/guides/xr/vps
• https://ar-js-org.github.io/AR.js-Docs/location-based
• https://developers.google.com/ar/develop/geospatial

[simonedevit]

Hi Brian, thanks for your interest! I've reviewed the options you mentioned, here are my thoughts:

• 8th Wall VPS is very compelling: robust visual positioning and truly cross-platform (Android + iOS) in the browser. The trade-off is a proprietary, paid license and a closed/limited ecosystem tied to Niantic's stack.

• AR.js (location-based) is built for Three.js/A-Frame and shaky on iOS. Since it relies on the Geolocation API, we could port the logic to Babylon.js. However, GPS precision is far lower than VPS, which matters a lot for believable AR placement.

• ARCore Geospatial API is the real game-changer: VPS with Google's vast global coverage (Street View). The catch: no browser/WebXR API today — it's native-only and it still requires API keys/billing for the related Google services (quotas and Maps/Geospatial SKUs apply).

Given GPS's limitations, the most sensible path is to wait for a reliable VPS provider, ideally Google, to open up a WebXR/browser API. Until then, anything web-based relies on proprietary intermediaries (e.g., Niantic/8th Wall) with trade-offs, or going native to use Google’s Geospatial stack.

What do you think?

[coopbri]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Simone, this aligns with what I was thinking too. I am averse to proprietary systems in this space and agree -- Niantic is rough in this way. You can't even locally clone projects without paying. Similar to Google (though, of course, Google is the king of geospatial data).

I've been playing with LocAR.js and the grander AR.js project and indeed have ran into precision issues, high error margins. I tried building some glue that improves this but we simply have a hardware limitation issue for mobile devices these days, as you know very well from working on this library!

There is also some work in the Godot WebXR space, but similar limitations.

Are you familiar with any FOSS alternatives that enable location-based AR in particular? If not, excited to continue discussing this general, overall module. I'll share if I make any breakthroughs with you and will continue to build and work on prototypes in this space.

EDIT: cool relevant academic paper (federated VPS protocol): https://arxiv.org/html/2510.03915v1

[simonedevit]

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of other FOSS VPS solutions. However, a major new player is being announced today: Samsung Galaxy XR (Project Moohan) 🚀. It is built on AndroidXR, supports WebXR from day one, and could be a game changer. Hopefully it gives Google one more reason to open up WebXR for VPS!