OVER has launched its Map2Earn Beta program, enabling anyone with a smartphone to participate and earn rewards in its community-led global mapping initiative.

Using a phone camera to take photos of a physical location through the OVER app, users create an OVRMap while also generating a shareable 3D fly-through video of their location. OVRMaps facilitate the geolocalization of augmented reality (AR) assets to as precise as 20cm of accuracy, enabling entirely new forms of AR experiences.

“When we think about the future of AR, we imagine an augmented world with contextualized 3D experiences that seamlessly merge with the physical world. We imagine augmented buildings with AR navigation systems; virtual avatars telling us about products, services, and locations; works of art transforming the world around us; and much more,” said Diego Di Tommaso, COO and co-founder of OVER. “However, in order to achieve this, we need a system to precisely locate the observer in space—we need geolocalization accuracy. That’s why we built Map2Earn, a system to precisely relocate you in space using computer vision that goes far beyond what can be achieved with GPS only. Such a system will finally enable the creation of the AR use cases that, as of right now, we can only just dream about.”

Through the use of devices such as a smartphone or smart glasses, an AR metaverse blends physical and digital perceptions. Previously, AR experiences and innovations were held back by the limitations of GPS accuracy, typically accurate to no less than 6m. The precision that OVRMaps make possible allows for new AR use-cases such as showcasing digital art on specific anchor points on a wall, superimposing AR experiences on existing buildings, or geolocating assets accurately indoors and across multiple floors.

After a successful Alpha testing phase that saw 1235 OVRMaps generated by 300 early users, the Map2Earn Beta version extends access to all via the OVER app on Apple and Android phones. After completing a simple guided scanning process of a location, the OVRMap which is generated can be sold to the owner of that specific OVRLand—a digital space in the metaverse which reflects a corresponding real-world location. OVRLand owners have full control of the AR events and experiences that take place in these locations and benefit from the added possibilities that detailed OVRMaps enable.

In addition to revenue streams that OVERMaps may generate from owners or renters of the OVRLand activating AR precision features, OVER also plans to incentivize further mapping through competitions and subsidized mapping initiatives for notable world landmarks. Further reward incentives will be announced during and after the Beta stage of the program.

“It’s hugely exciting to launch the Map2Earn Beta to the public and to see what spaces around the globe are captured and recreated in our metaverse. OVER’s vision is to create a Web3-based, community-owned, up-to-date 3D map of the most important indoor and outdoor locations in the world—the likes of which we have not seen before,” Di Tommaso concluded. “The Map2earn objective is not to re-build solutions such as Google Maps, but to create the most extensive Web3 3D map of the world which can be visited by users all with a smartphone instead of cars and satellites. Those OVRMaps have a fundamental importance for AR. They are the portal to the AR metaverse, without which there is no way to reliably and coherently augment the physical world.”

To participate in the OVER Map2Earn Beta, download the OVER The Reality app on Google Play or Apple App Store and follow the instructions under Map2Earn.