Exercise - Integrate Azure Spatial Anchors
In this module, you'll learn how to use Azure Spatial Anchors. You'll store the location of a Tracked Object as an Azure Spatial Anchor. Once you query for the anchor, an arrow will appear to guide you toward the location.
Understand Azure Spatial Anchors
Azure Spatial Anchors is part of the Azure Cloud Services family and is used to save anchor locations. The saved anchor locations can be retrieved based on the anchor ID from the cloud.Multiplatform devices like HoloLens, iOS, and Android devices can share and access this anchor location.
Learn more about Azure Spatial Anchors.
Prepare Azure Spatial Anchors
Before you can start, you have to create a Spatial Anchors resource in your Azure portal. Learn how to make a Spatial Anchors resource.
Prepare the scene
In this section, you'll learn how to configure the scene and make the necessary changes.
Select MRTK XR Rig > Camera Offset object in the Hierarchy window and use the Add Component button in the Inspector window to add the AR Anchor Manager (Script)
In the Project window, navigate to Assets > MRTK.Tutorials.AzureCloudServices > Prefabs > Manager.
From the Manager folder, drag and drop the prefab Anchor Manager into the scene Hierarchy.
Select the Anchor Manager GameObject in the Hierarchy, and in the Inspector section, you'll find the Spatial Anchor Manager (Script). Find the Spatial Anchors Account ID and Spatial Anchors Account Key fields and add the credentials that you created in the earlier lesson.
Now find the Scene Controller object in your scene Hierarchy and select it. You'll see the Scene Controller Inspector.
The Anchor Manager field in the Scene Controller component is empty. Drag and drop the Anchor Manager from the Hierarchy in the scene into that field, then save the scene.
Build and deploy the app to your HoloLens 2
Note
Building and testing on HoloLens 2 isn't mandatory. You can test on the HoloLens 2 Emulator if you don't have a HoloLens device. You can purchase devices at HoloLens.com.
Azure Spatial Anchors can't run in Unity, so to test the Azure Spatial Anchors functionality, you need to deploy the project to your device.
Tip
For a reminder on how to build and deploy your Unity project to HoloLens 2, you can refer to the instructions in the Build and deploy the application section of this tutorial.
Run the app on your HoloLens 2 and follow the in-app instructions
Create an anchor to store a location
In this section, you'll save the object location.
Run the application and select Set Object in the main menu.
Enter the Name of the object you want to save and select Set Object to continue. To add more information about the object, select the Image, then describe the object.
To save the location, select Save Location
You'll see an anchor pointer that you can move and place on the location you want to save. After that, you'll get a confirmation popup. If you want to confirm and save the location, select Yes; otherwise, you can change the location by selecting No and selecting another location.
Once you confirm the location by selecting Yes, the location and the Anchor ID will be saved in Azure Cloud Storage. Once it's saved, you'll see the Object tag in the anchor with the object's name.
Query for finding an anchor location
Once you successfully save the anchor location, you can find the anchor location by selecting Search Object in the main menu.
After selecting Search Object, enter the name of the object for which you wish to search in the pop-up window.
Select Search Object. If the object was saved previously and is found in the database, you'll get the object card with all the details of the object.
Select Show Location to find the object. The system will query the object address from the cloud storage.
After successfully retrieving the location, an arrow will direct you to the object location. Follow the arrow until you find the object.
Once you find the object, the object name will appear at the top, and the arrow mark will disappear. Select the Object tag to see the details of the object.