Import data manually into Azure Spatial Anchors to display a virtual object

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Kastler-8129 asked Jan 11, '22 asergaz commented Jan 24, '22

Import data manually into Azure Spatial Anchors to display a virtual object

I am looking to display a virtual object in the real world using Azure Spatial Anchors technology. To do this, I have this virtual object and a point cloud of the scene made with a laser scanner. I would like to know if it is possible to manually integrate these data into the Azure Cloud so that the virtual object can be displayed in the scene later. To do this, I would use Unity to define an anchor (center of the coordinate system) relative to the virtual object and relative to the point cloud. These data would then be imported into the Azure Cloud, and I could use it to have Azure Spatial Anchors match this point cloud with the feature points found in the scene during the session. Does Azure Spatial Anchors allow this?

azure-spatial-anchors

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asergaz · Jan 11 at 04:54 PM

Same question in StackOverflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70665451/import-data-manually-into-azure-spatial-anchors-to-display-a-virtual-object

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asergaz · Jan 12 at 11:04 AM

@Kastler-8129 From my initial research I believe what you are trying to achieve is possible, using the right mix of Locate Strategy (eg. Using NearAnchor) and then leverage UpdateAnchorProperties. I have contacted Product Team to confirm.

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Kastler-8129 asergaz · Jan 12 at 07:00 PM

Thank you for your answer. To be clear, what I really want to know is if it is possible to manually import this point cloud into the Azure cloud, in order to reuse it to compare this point cloud and the characteristic point cloud detected during a session. From what I understand, Azure Cloud encrypts the data, and I don't know if that would be a problem.

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asergaz Kastler-8129 · Jan 14 at 02:13 PM

Hello @Kastler-8129 can you be more specific on what you mean by "manually import this point cloud into the Azure cloud" ? Would you like to use for instance Azure Blob Storage?

Thanks!

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Answer 1 · 2022-01-17T11:17:40.877Z

asergaz answered Jan 17, '22 asergaz commented Jan 24, '22

Hello @Kastler-8129 ,
I have received confirmation from Product Team that unfortunately ASA does not support users to upload their own point clouds for matching later. Instead ASA collects the environment information from the native platform tracker at the time of creating spatial anchor and use it later for matching.

We will consider this scenario in future iterations if demanded by our customers, for that can I kindly ask you add a new Feature Request in feedback.azure.com | Azure Spatial Anchors and share it here so others can vote for it as well?

Appreciate your time!

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Kastler-8129 · Jan 21 at 05:54 PM

Hello @asergaz,
Ah, maybe we have misunderstood each other. In the original question, I am talking about a point cloud that I have acquired with a laser scanner, directly on the field (real scene). I am not trying to display this point cloud. What I want to display is a virtual object that I would have attached to this point cloud using Unity.
To display this virtual object in the real world with ASA, I need to import manually my point cloud into Azure Cloud, so that ASA can use it and map it to the feature points detected in real time in the scene.
So I'm trying to find out if this is possible.

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asergaz Kastler-8129 · Jan 24 at 10:57 AM

Thanks for clarifying the question, I am much more clear now :)!

So my answer still applies: "ASA collects the environment information from the native platform tracker at the time of creating spatial anchor and use it later for matching." Unfortunately this is not yet a feature in ASA (to upload your own custom cloud points captured without using the native platform tracker). And this is not related with data being encrypted on Azure.

As I mentioned before, I can reassure that we are looking at all feedback coming in feedback.azure.com | Azure Spatial Anchors . Can you add this feature idea there and share here as well? We will consider it for next iterations of the service if others vote for it as well.

Let me know if you have further questions?
All Best!

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Kastler-8129 · Jan 20 at 07:07 PM

Hello @asergaz ,
I must admit that I am surprised by your answer. Spatial anchors are stored in the Azure cloud, and the Azure cloud allows the user to import and export data. Could you explain why this can't be done here ? I know that the data in the Azure cloud is encrypted, is it related to that?

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asergaz Kastler-8129 · Jan 21 at 02:56 PM

Hello @Kastler-8129 ,

I think we need to separate two concepts in your question, let me describe those on my own words so that you can confirm I understood them well:

1) In the original question, you asked if it was possible to upload point clouds of a "virtual" scene that would be displayed when a user interacts with his\her device on the "real" scene. And the answer is no, you can't upload your own point clouds - ASA collects the environment information from the native platform tracker at the time of creating spatial anchor - this is, you need to be there physically in the "real" scene.

2) The other question that arose was if Azure Spatial Anchors encrypts point clouds when storing them and if that is the reason why you can't upload your own point clouds - and the answer is no. The encryption\decryption of the data points is part of ASA internals and not relevant in this situation. In the end of the day you are dealing with a REST API abstracted with the use of Azure Spatial Anchors SDK.

I hope I could help. Let me know.

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