Last Revised: June 13, 2022
This Learn More is intended to supplement the information included within Magic Leap’s Privacy Policy regarding what data is collected by your Magic Leap 2 device to enable spatial mapping, how that data is handled, as well as the spatial mapping features and the functionality applicable for your Magic Leap 2. For information regarding Magic Leap’s first generation Magic Leap devices, please refer to the “Learn Mores” for Magic Leap 1, available here.
In this Learn More, we cover:
- What is Spatial Mapping?
- World Features
- World Models
- Spatial Mapping Storage Options
For information regarding Magic Leap 1 devices or Magic Leap’s first generation ecosystem, please refer to the “Learn Mores” for Magic Leap 1, available here.
What is Spatial Mapping?
Spatial maps are a critical part of the Magic Leap ecosystem as they help Magic Leap enable interactions between digital content and your actual physical surroundings. Magic Leap 2 device sensors scan your environment, process that information, and use it to create three dimensional representations of your area (which we refer to as spatial maps). The end result is a mapped environment that enables apps to render digital media in your field of view as if it were really in front of you. Spatial maps include two different levels of detail: World Features and World Models.
What About People in My Surroundings?
Spatial maps that include World Features or World Models work similarly when someone is in your surrounding area. Spatial maps only reflect information from the parts of your environment that are stationary. If someone walks through the room while your Magic Leap 2 device is spatially mapping the space, they will be excluded from the spatial maps. If someone is sitting in the room while your Magic Leap 2 device is spatially mapping the space, that individual may be included in the spatial map created, but the spatial map is not designed to reflect a level of detail sufficient to identify that individual.
World Features
World Features are 3D representations (also called “point clouds”) of the world around you, and serve as the basic building blocks of a spatial map. World Feature points can be used as references to place and persist content (so you can come back to that content later, at the same place).
When you use the mapping tool to scan an environment with your Magic Leap 2 device, computer vision algorithms use images collected from the world sensing cameras on your Magic Leap 2 device to extract features from those images. These new features are then compared to previously stored features and merged to create one set of features that represent your surroundings in that environment. The final set of World Features is a spatial map at its most basic level. The processing to extract World Features from world sensing camera images is done locally on your Magic Leap 2 device.
You will need to scan each environment for which you would like your Magic Leap 2 device to have a World Features spatial map using the mapping tool and, each time you return to that environment, you will need to select the appropriate World Features spatial map for that environment so that your device can localize into the correct spatial map.
World Models
World Models are more detailed versions of spatial maps (dense mesh data and planes) that are created continuously from your Magic Leap 2 device’s sensors when you use your device. These spatial maps provide much more accurate representations of the world around you compared to World Features, enabling digital content to respond to the environment in a more natural way.
The data processed to create World Models includes:
Dense Mesh Data. Dense mesh data is a triangular geometry that closely approximates the structure of the visible walls and objects around you, such as furniture.
Planes. From dense mesh data, large flat surfaces or planes can be derived. This helps identify walls, floors, and optimal surfaces for placing content. Dense mesh data and planes additionally enable occlusion and collision consistent with your environment.
Unlike World Features, World Models are not designed to be persisted or stored on your Magic Leap 2 device. Instead, your Magic Leap 2 device will continuously create World Models for any environment that you enter while wearing your device, and such World Models will be overwritten by the device as needed.
User permissions are required for World Models spatial maps to be accessed by applications on your Magic Leap 2 device, including the ability for apps to use dense mesh data, and plane detection. Apps need this information to display within and interact with your environment. If you grant an app permission to access your World Model spatial maps, then please note that such apps will be able to access the World Models of your surroundings while such apps are running on your Magic Leap 2 device, even while in the background.
Spatial Mapping Storage Options
Magic Leap currently offers only on-device storage for World Features. You will be able to scan, save, and name World Features spatial maps for up to 5 environments. As described above, World Models are not designed to be saved and are continuously created and overwritten as needed on your Magic Leap 2 device.
In upcoming releases, Magic Leap will offer enterprises options to store spatial maps from Magic Leap 2 devices used by the enterprise in an enterprise-managed cloud storage repository.