Tag Archives: Announcements

What’s new for developers building solutions on Google Workspace – mid-year recap

Posted by Chanel Greco, Developer Advocate Google Workspace

Google Workspace offers tools for productivity and collaboration for the ways we work. It also offers a rich set of APIs, SDKs, and no-code/low-code tools to create apps and integrate workflows that integrate directly into the surfaces across Google Workspace.

Leading software makers like Atlassian, Asana, LumApps and Miro are building integrations with Google Workspace apps—like Google Docs, Meet, and Chat—to make it easier than ever to access data and act right in the tools relied on by more than 3 billion users and 9 million paying customers.

At I/O’23 we had some exciting announcements for new features that give developers more options when integrating apps with Google Workspace.


Third-party smart chips in Google Docs

We announced the opening up of smart chips functionality to our partners. Smart chips allow you to tag and see critical information to linked resources, such as projects, customer records, and more. This preview information provides users with context and critical information right in the flow of their work. These capabilities are now generally available to developers to build their own smart chips.

Some of our partners have built and launched integrations using this new smart chips functionality. For example, Figma is integrated into Docs with smart chips, allowing users to tag Figma projects which allows readers to hover over a Figma link in a doc to see a preview of the design project. Atlassian is leveraging smart chips so users can seamlessly access Jira issues and Confluence pages within Google Docs.

Tableau uses smart chips to show the user the Tableau Viz's name, last updated date, and a preview image. With the Miro smart chip solution users have an easy way to get context, request access and open a Miro board from any document. The Whimsical smart chip integration allows users to see up-to-date previews of their Whimsical boards.

Moving image showing functionality of Figma smart chips in Google docs, allowing users to tag and preview projects in docs.

Google Chat REST API and Chat apps

Developers and solution builders can use the Google Chat REST API to create Chat apps and automate workflows to send alerts, create spaces, and share critical data right in the flow of the conversation. For instance, LumApps is integrating with the Chat APIs to allow users to start conversations in Chat right from within the employee experience platform.

The Chat REST API is now generally available.

Using the Chat API and the Google Workspace UI-kit, developers can build Chat apps that bring information and workflows right into the conversation. Developers can also build low code Chat apps using AppSheet.

Moving image showing interactive Google Meet add-ons by partner Jira

There are already Chat apps available from partners like Atlassian’s Jira, Asana, PagerDuty and Zendesk. Jira for Google Chat to collaborate on projects, create issues, and update tickets – all without having to switch context.

Google Workspace UI-kit

We are continuing to evolve the Workspace UI-kit to provide a more seamless experience across Google Workspace surfaces with easy to use widgets and visual optimizations.

For example, there is a new date and time picker widget for Google Chat apps and there is the new two-column layout to optimize space and organize information.

Google Meet SDKs and APIs

There are exciting new capabilities which will soon be launched in preview for Google Meet.

For example, the Google Meet Live Sharing SDK allows for the building of new shared experiences for users on Android, iOS, and web. Developers will be able to synchronize media content across participant’s devices in real-time and offer shared content controls for everyone in the meeting.

The Google Meet Add-ons SDK enables developers to embed their app into Meet via an iframe, and choose between the main stage or the side panel. This integration can be published on the Google Workspace Marketplace for discoverability.

Partners such as Atlassian, Figma, Lucid Software, Miro and Polly.ai, are already building Meet add-ons, and we’re excited to see what apps and workflows developers will build into Meet’s highly-interactive surfaces.

Image of interactive Google Meet add-on by partner Miro

With the Google Meet APIs developers can add the power of Google Meet to their applications by pre-configuring and launching video calls right from their apps. Developers will also be able to pull data and artifacts such as attendance reporting, recordings, and transcripts to make them available for their users post-meeting.

Google Calendar API

The ability to programmatically read and write the working location from Calendar is now available in preview. In the second half of this year, we plan to make these two capabilities, along with the writing of sub-day working locations, generally available.

These new capabilities can be used for integrating with desk booking systems and coordinating in-offices days, to mention just a few use cases. This information will help organizations adapt their setup to meet the needs of hybrid work.

Google Workspace API Dashboard and APIs Explorer

Two new tools were released to assist developers: the Google Workspace API Dashboard and the APIs Explorer.

The API Dashboard is a unified way to access Google Workspace APIs through the Google Cloud Console—APIs for Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Chat, Slides, Calendar, and many more. From there, you now have a central location to manage all your Google Workspace APIs and view all of the aggregated metrics, quotas, credentials, and more for the APIs in use.

The APIs Explorer allows you to explore and test Google Workspace APIs without having to write any code. It's a great way to get familiar with the capabilities of the many Google Workspace APIs.

Apps Script

The eagerly awaited project history capability for Google Apps Script will soon be generally available. This feature allows users to view the list of versions created for the script, their content, and different changes between the selected version and the current version.

It was also announced that admins will be able to add an allowlist for URLs per domain to help safer access controls and control where their data can be sent externally.

The V8 runtime for Apps Script was launched back in 2020 and it enables developers to use modern JavaScript syntax and features. If you still have legacy scripts on the old Rhino runtime, now is the time to migrate them to V8.

AppSheet

We have been further improving AppSheet, our no-code solution builder, and announced multiple new features at I/O.

Later this year we will be launching Duet AI in AppSheet to make it easier than ever to create no-code apps for Google Workspace. Using a natural-language and conversational interface, users can build an app in AppSheet by simply describing their needs as a step-by-step conversation in chat.

Moving image of no-code app creation in AppSheet

The no-code Chat apps feature for AppSheet is generally available which can be used to quickly create Google Chat apps and publish them with 1-click.

AppSheet databases are also generally available. With this native database feature, you can organize data with structured columns and references directly in AppSheet.

Check out the Build a no-code app using the native AppSheet database and Add Chat to your AppSheet apps codelabs to get you started with these two new capabilities.

Google Workspace Marketplace

The Google Workspace Marketplace is where developers can distribute their Workspace integrations for users to find, install, and use. We launched the Intelligent Apps category which spotlights the AI-enabled apps developers build and helps users discover tools to work smarter and be more productive (eligibility criteria here).

Image of Intelligent Apps in Google Workspace

Start building today

If you want early access to the features in preview, sign up for the Developer Preview Program. Subscribe to the Google Workspace Developers YouTube channel for the latest news and video tutorials to kickstart your Workspace development journey.

We can’t wait to see what you will build on the Google Workspace platform.

Prepare your app for the new Samsung tablets, foldables and watches

Posted by the Android team

From foldable innovations to seamless connectivity, Google and Samsung have continued to work together to create helpful experiences across Android phones, tablets, smartwatches and more. Today at Galaxy Unpacked in Seoul, Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5, Galaxy Watch6 series, and Galaxy Tab S9 series.

With these new devices from Samsung, there are four more reasons to ensure your app looks great across all your user’s favorite screens. Here are three ways you can ensure your app is ready for these great new Samsung devices:

1. Provide a great foldable experience

The launch of the new Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5 brings two brand new foldables to the Android ecosystem, so it is important to provide experiences that have fully adaptive UIs. The bottom line is that layout and app behavior should be based on device configuration and available features, and not the physical type of the device.

When it comes to providing a great foldable experience, here are a few of our top recommendations:

Illustration of Window Class sizes showing compact, medium, and expanded sizes across widths from 600dp through 840 dp

  • Use window size classes to guide layout decisions based on your current windowing state using opinionated breakpoints that are derived from common device types.
  • Observe folding features with Jetpack WindowManager, which provides the set of folding features that intersect your app's current window.
  • Make dynamic, runtime decisions based on whether a feature is available, instead of assuming that a feature is or is not available for a certain kind of device.
  • Referring in the UI to the user’s device as simply a “device” covers all form factors and is the simplest to implement. However, differentiating between the multiple devices a user may have provides a more polished experience and enables you to display the type of the device to the user using heuristics relevant to your particular use case.

You can learn more about how (and why) to implement the recommendations above in this detailed blog and, to find best practices for updating your app, check out the Support different screen sizes page.

2. Design with multi-device experiences in mind

With new devices, big and small, it is important to think through the user experience you hope to accomplish. A large part of that is the UI and design of your app – with specific consideration to account for based on screen sizes and types.

Ensuring your app looks great on large screens is a critical part of your users’ experience. Material You supports beautiful, efficient tablet and foldable experiences – and, at Google I/O this year, the team dove into the latest updates to large screen guidelines for designers and developers. You can also get inspired with the latest design guidance and mockup in check out the Large Screens Gallery.

To help with the challenges of designing and building great watch experiences that work for all, we created our the Wear OS Gallery This blog and the series of videos that accompany it are built to get you started designing inclusive smartwatch apps. For even more information on beautiful smartwatch design, discover the new Wear OS Gallery where you can find general design tips, verticalized use cases, and implementation ideas.

3. Get ready for Wear OS 4

The next generation of Wear OS is here! The Galaxy Watch6 series comes with the newest version of Google’s smartwatch platform, Wear OS 4. This platform update is also coming soon to other Samsung Galaxy watches, including the Watch4 and Watch5.

Wear OS 4 is based on Android 13, which is several versions newer than the current Wear OS version, so your app will need to handle the system behavior changes that took effect in Android 12 and Android 13. We recommend you start by testing your app and releasing a compatible update first – as devices get upgraded to Wear OS 4, it’s a basic but a critical level of quality that provides a good app experience for users.

Download the Wear OS 4 emulator in Android Studio Hedgehog to explore new features and test your app on Wear OS 4 Developer Preview.

The release of Wear OS 4 comes with many exciting changes – including a new way to build watchfaces.

The new Watch Face Format is a declarative XML format that allows you to configure the appearance and behavior of watch faces. This means that there's no executable code involved in creating a watch face, and there's no code embedded in your watch face APK. The Wear OS platform takes care of the logic needed to render the watch face so you can focus on your creative ideas, rather than code optimizations or battery performance.

Get started with watch faces using our documentation or create your own watch face with Samsung’s Watch Face Studio design tool.

Get started building a multi-device experience today!

With all the amazing additions to the Android ecosystem coming from Galaxy Unpacked, there has never been a better time to be sure your app looks great on all the devices your users know and love - from tablets to foldables to watches.

Learn more about building multi-device experiences from Deezer, where they increased their monthly active users 4X after improving multi-device support. Then get started with Jetpack WindowManager to help you build a responsive app for large screens by checking out the documentation and sample app. Finally, get to know Wear OS 4 and try it out with your app!

Meet the students using Google technologies to address the UN’s sustainability goals around the globe

Posted by Rachel Francois, Global Program Manager, Google Developer Student Clubs


Every year, university students who are members of Google Developer Student Clubs around the world are invited to create innovative solutions for real-world problems as part of the Solution Challenge. Participating students use Google products and platforms like Android, Firebase, TensorFlow, Google Cloud, and Flutter to build solutions for one or more of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which promote employment for all, economic growth, and climate action, to name a few. Agreed upon in 2015 by all 193 United Nations Member States, the goals aim to end poverty, ensure prosperity, and protect the planet by 2030.

On Demo Day, August 3, live on YouTube, the final 10 teams of the 2023 Solution Challenge will present their solutions to a panel of Google judges and a global audience of developers. These top 10 finalists were selected among the top 100 teams globally. During the live event, judges will review team projects, ask questions, and choose the top 3 grand prize winners!

Want to be part of this awesome event? RSVP here to tune into Demo Day, vote for the People’s Choice Award, and watch the action as it unfolds in real time.

In the meantime, learn more about our top 10 finalists and their amazing solutions.

The Top 10 Projects


Buzzbusters, Universidad Mayor de San Andres in Bolivia 🇧🇴

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities, Goal 17: Partnerships

Buzzbusters is an early warning system designed to prevent epidemics of mosquito-borne diseases, like dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever, by using Google Cloud monitoring technologies like Vertex AI, TensorFlow, Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Storage, Google Maps, and Google Colab.

Creators: Sergio Mauricio Nuñez, Saleth Jhoselin Mamani Huanca, Moises David Cisneros Laura, and Wendy Nayely Huayhua López


FarmX, Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria 🇳🇬

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption & Production, Goal 13: Climate Action

FarmX is an app that empowers farmers to decide which crops to plant, how to implement precision agriculture, and how to detect crop diseases, using TensorFlow, Flutter, Firebase, and Google Cloud.

Creators: Victor Olufemi, Oluwaseun Salako, Lekan Adesina, and Festus Idowu


Femunity, Vellore Institute of Technology in India 🇮🇳

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 5: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

Femunity is an innovative social media platform that empowers women by providing a safe and inclusive online space, using Flutter and Firebase.

Creators: Amritansh Sharma and Arin Yadav


HeadHome, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore 🇸🇬

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities

HeadHome is an app focused on tackling wandering by dementia patients, who can receive instructions from a dedicated watch or receive assistance from caregivers and volunteers. HeadHome is built on Google Cloud, using Cloud Run, Google Maps, and Firebase.

Creators: Chang Dao Zheng, Chay Hui Xiang, Ong Jing Xuan, and Marc Chern Di Yong


HearSitter, Yonsei University Seoul Campus in South Korea 🇰🇷

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing

HearSitter is a mobile app that helps deaf parents with young children be aware of their children's needs, alerting parents to a baby’s cry or sudden noises. HearSitter was built using Flutter, Go Lang, Fiber, and AngularJS.

Creators: DongJae Kim, Juii Kim, HyoJeong Park, and YoungMin Jin


Project REMORA, University of Southampton in United Kingdom 🇬🇧

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 6: Clean Water & Sanitation

Project Remora is a smart water pollution tracking device that uses sensors to identify sources of water pollution, providing geo-tagged results that allow users to identify pollution sources using the concentration gradient. Project Remora was developed in the MIT App Inventor using Firebase, Realtime Database, and the Google Maps API.

Creators: Tong En Lim, Shao Qian Choong, Isaac Lim Rudd, and Aiman Haziq Bin Hairel Anuar


ReVita, Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan 🇰🇿

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure

ReVita is a mobile app that addresses the mental and emotional challenges faced by organ transplant recipients, as well as the physical challenges of recovering from surgery. The ReVita app is built on GoLang, Flutter, Firebase, Google Fit, Google Maps API, Google Chat, Google Meet API, and Google Calendar API.

Creators: Dias Baimukhanov, Madiyar Moldabayev, Dinmukhamed Nuran, and Ansar Serikbayev


SlugLoop, University of California, Santa Cruz in United States 🇺🇸

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities, Goal 13: Climate Action

SlugLoop is a real-time bus tracking app that provides accurate route information for buses at the University of California Santa Cruz, allowing students to get to class on time, while reducing their carbon footprint. The SlugLoop app is built with React, Firebase, and Google Maps.

Creators: Bill Zhang, Alex Liu, Annie Liu, and Nicholas Szwed


Wonder, Korea University Seoul Campus in South Korea 🇰🇷

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing

Wonder partners with local volunteer organizations to provide opportunities for users to engage in walking-based activities that contribute to their communities, like walking dogs for shelters or delivering meals to isolated seniors. Wonder is built with Flutter and utilizes TensorFlow, Google Maps, and Google Cloud.

Creators: Chanho Park, Keo Kim, Boyoung Kim, and Sukyung Baek


Wonder Reader, Binus University International in Indonesia 🇮🇩

UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

Wonder Reader is a 3D printed digital braille reader that helps visually impaired students learn by connecting wirelessly to a smartphone, allowing teachers to send questions to the device through Bluetooth and students to reply using the built-in braille keyboard. Wonder Reader was built using Google Cloud, Firebase, Flutter, and Google Text to Speech API.

Creators: Philipus Adriel Tandra, Aric Hernando, Jason Jeremy Wijadi, and Jason Christian Hailianto
Special thanks to our Google mentors and Google Developer Experts for supporting the students as they developed their fascinating projects.

Feeling inspired and ready to learn more about Google Developer Student Clubs? Find a club near you, and be sure to RSVP and tune in to the upcoming Solution Challenge Demo Day livestream on August 3 at 10:00am ET.

Register for Google Cloud Next ‘23 and get some sweet perks

Posted by Brian Hall, Vice President, Product and Industry Marketing, Google Cloud & Max Saltonstall, Developer Relations Engineer Google Cloud Next is coming to San Francisco, August 29-31, 2023

Developers - it’s finally here . . . the Google Cloud Next ‘23 session library is live!

So many awesome sessions to choose from, it's tough!

Of course we start with the big story of the year, the thing on everyone's (everything's?) mind: AI!

Machine learning and AI

Check out "5 practical considerations for adopting AI" to get started or "Build your organization’s future on Google AI and machine learning infrastructure" for teams that are looking to expand into cross-functional AI-powered innovation.

Building modern apps

Sometimes you've got an awesome idea, and you are looking for a way to speed up getting it to market. We can help. Attend "Building fast, scalable and reliable apps with Firebase and Cloud Run" to learn about serverless, accessible and language-agnostic tools to enable higher cloud velocity. Or come to "Build your first event driven app in less than 5 minutes" and walk away with a reference app for your own event-driven architecture use later on.

Lots of folks take a measured approach to public cloud adoption, especially with how rapidly technology is changing. This is especially true in corporate IT, where change can be tough. Check out "The future of modern enterprise applications with GKE" to learn more about moving your company's apps and workflows to the cloud.

Data insights and analytics

We're all drowning in data these days, and cloud offers many (MANY!) tools to help. Learn where you can get a handle on your data, analytics and insights with "What's next for Data and AI?" and then point your data engineering teams to "What's new with BigQuery" for the latest advances.

Cloud migrations

If you are looking at how you secure your own migration to cloud-based apps and services, make sure you attend "What’s new in cloud-first CI/CD" to get up to speed on Cloud Build, Artifact Registry, Cloud Deploy and more. These interconnected tools can accelerate development, help with segmentation of roles and responsibilities, and allow for zero to worldwide scale with very little operational overhead.

Industry Solutions

For developers building apps for specific industries, we've got a wide variety of sessions from Retail to Games to Public Sector to Manufacturing. Come learn from customers about AI applications in automation and personalization in "From vision to practice: AI applications in financial services" and take advantage of the latest tools. Or you could dive into the latest craze with "Media’s AI frontier: Navigating the future of entertainment” and start to answer the question we've all been asking: was this blog written by a person or an AI?

Amazing experts

There are sessions for every flavor of developer, architect, designer and operator, and so many opportunities to engage with experts from industry. So join us at Google Cloud Next to learn about key topics from speakers like Gerrit Kazmaier, Dave Nettleton, Keelin McDonnell, Donna Schit, and more.

And that's not all! You can find a series of training workshops available for all skill levels, and a dedicated learning and certification booth to help you on your way to your new cloudy career and skilling journey. Plus we've got a set of lightning talks to give you bite-sized chunks of knowledge across every cloud topic.

Oh no, I'm out of time and I haven't even gotten to the return of Drone Racing League at Next. Guess you'll just have to come and find out. See you there!

Register for Google Cloud Next ‘23 now: August 29-31 in San Francisco.

Apply now: Google for Startups Accelerator launches applications for 4th Annual Women Founders and Black Founders cohorts

Posted by Iran Karimian, Startup Ecosystem Lead, Canada & Matt Ridenour, Head of Startup Ecosystem, U.S.

Applications for the 2023 Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders are now open. Check out what our alumni founders had to say about past programs:

As tech entrepreneurs continue to drive innovation with fresh ideas and new applications of AI and machine-learning technologies, it’s an exciting time for the tech startup ecosystem. But the headwinds of the 2022 investment climate have created a steep uphill climb for founders looking for funding, and underrepresented founders continue to face even greater structural barriers to getting their businesses off the ground.

While the recent economic downturn has impacted startups across the board, it has disproportionately affected startups helmed by women and Black founders, with women-founded startups receiving only ~2.1% of total U.S. VC funding, and Black-founded startups receiving only ~1.1% of U.S. VC funding in 2022.

Google for Startups is committed to leveling the playing field for all founders, and today we’re excited to open applications for our 2023 Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders and Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders cohorts. We’ll select twelve startups across North America to participate in each program. These virtual accelerator programs are equity-free, three-month intensive bootcamps, giving founders the tools they need to prepare for the next phase of their growth journey.

Participating startups will receive mentorship and technical project support, as well as workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development. In addition to guidance from leaders and experts across Google product areas, each accelerator offers a cohort of peers building high potential startups who support one another with shared learnings, insights and opportunities.

We hope that these accelerator programs contribute to the ongoing effort in creating a more inclusive and equitable tech startup ecosystem for underrepresented founders. Startups in the U.S. and Canada are encouraged to apply. For the Google for Startup Accelerator: Women Founders program, apply here by July 25 and for Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders, apply here by August 2.

Build transformative augmented reality experiences with new ARCore and geospatial features

  Posted by Eric Lai, Group Product Manager

With ARCore, Google’s platform for building augmented reality experiences, we continue to enhance the ways we interact with information and experience the people and things around us. ARCore is now available on 1.4 billion Android devices and select features are also available on compatible iOS devices, making it the largest cross-device augmented reality platform.

Last year, we launched the ARCore Geospatial API, which leverages our understanding of the world through Google Maps and helps developers build AR experiences that are more immersive, richer, and more useful. We further engaged with all of you through global hackathons, such as the ARCore Geospatial API Challenge, where we saw a number of high quality submissions across a number of use cases, including gaming, local discovery, and navigation.

Today, we are introducing new ARCore Geospatial capabilities, including Streetscape Geometry API, Geospatial Depth API, and Scene Semantics API to help you build transformative, world-scale immersive experiences.


Introducing Streetscape Geometry API

With the new Streetscape Geometry API, you can interact, visualize, and transform building geometry around the user. The Streetscape Geometry API makes it easy for developers to build experiences that interact with real world geometry, like reskinning buildings, power more accurate occlusion, or just placing a virtual asset on a building, by providing a 3D mesh within a 100m radius of the user’s mobile device location.

moving image showing streetscape geometry
Streetscape Geometry API provides a 3D mesh of nearby buildings and terrain geometry

You can use this API to build immersive experiences like transforming building geometry into live plants growing on top of them or using the building geometry as a feature in your game by having virtual balls bounce off and interact with them.

Streetscape Geometry API is available on Android and iOS.


Introducing Rooftop Anchors and Geospatial Depth

Previously, we launched Geospatial anchors which allow developers to place stable geometry at exact locations using latitude, longitude, and altitude. Over the past year, we added Terrain anchors which are placed on Earth's terrain, using only longitude and latitude coordinates, with the altitude being calculated automatically.

Today we are introducing a new type of anchor: Rooftop anchors. Rooftop anchors let you anchor digital content securely to building rooftops, respecting the building geometry and the height of buildings.

moving image showing rooftop anchors
Rooftop anchors make it easier to
anchor digital content to building rooftops
moving image showing geospatial depth
Geospatial depth combines
real time depth measurement from
users' device with Streetscape Geometry data
to generate a depth map of up to 65 meters

In addition to new anchoring features, we are also leveraging the Streetscape Geometry API to improve one of the most important capabilities in AR: Depth. Depth is critical to enable more realistic occlusion or collision of virtual objects in the real world.

Today, we are launching Geospatial Depth. It combines the mobile device real time depth measurement with Streetscape Geometry data to improve depth measurements using building and terrain data providing depth for up to 65m. With Geospatial Depth you can build increasingly realistic geospatial experiences in the real world.

Rooftop Anchors are available on Android and iOS. Geospatial Depth is available on Android.


Introducing Scene Semantics API

The Scene Semantics API uses AI to provide a class label to every pixel in an outdoor scene, so you can create custom AR experiences based on the features in an area around your user. At launch, twelve class labels are available, including sky, building, tree, road, sidewalk, vehicle, person, water and more.

moving image showing streetscape geometry
Scene Semantics API uses AI to provide accurate labels for different features that are present in a scene outdoors

You can use the Scene Semantics API to enable different experiences in your app. For example, you can identify specific scene components, such as roads and sidewalks to help guide a user through the city, people and vehicles to render realistic occlusions, the sky to create a sunset at any time of the day, and buildings to modify their appearance and anchor virtual objects.

The Scene Semantics API is available on Android.


Mega Golf: The game that brings augmented mini-golf to your neighborhood

To help you get started, we’re also releasing Mega Golf, an open source demo that helps you experience the new APIs in action. In Mega Golf you will use buildings in your city to bounce off and propel a golf ball towards a hole while avoiding 3D virtual obstacles. This open source demo is available on GitHub. We're excited to see what you can do with this project.

moving image showing streetscape geometry
Mega Golf uses Streetscape Geometry API to transform neighborhoods into a playable mini golf course where players use nearby buildings to bounce and propel a golf ball towards a hole

With these new ARCore features improvements and the new Geospatial Creator in Adobe Aero and Unity, we’ll make it easier than ever for developers and creators to build realistic augmented reality experiences that delight and provide utility for users. Get started today at g.co/ARCore. We’re excited to see what you create when the world is your canvas, playground, gallery, or more!

Create world-scale augmented reality experiences in minutes with Google’s Geospatial Creator

Posted by Stevan Silva, Senior Product Manager

ARCore, our augmented reality developer platform, provides developers and creators alike with simple yet powerful tools to build world-scale and room-scale immersive experiences on 1.4 billion Android devices.

Since last year, we have extended coverage of the ARCore Geospatial API from 87 countries to over 100 countries provided by Google’s Visual Positioning System and the expansion of Street View coverage, helping developers build and publish more transformative and robust location-based, immersive experiences. We continue to push the boundaries of introducing helpful applications and delightful new world-scale use cases, whether it's the innovative hackathon submissions from the ARCore Geospatial API Challenge or our partnership with Gorillaz, where we transformed Times Square and Piccadilly Circus into a music stage to witness Gorillaz play in a larger-than-life immersive performance.

One thing we’ve consistently heard from you over the past year is to broaden access to these powerful resources and ensure anyone can create, visualize, and deploy augmented reality experiences around the world.

Introducing Geospatial Creator


Today, we are launching Geospatial Creator, a tool that helps anyone easily visualize, design, and publish world-anchored immersive content in minutes straight from platforms you already know and love — Unity or Adobe Aero.

Easily visualize, create, and publish augmented reality experiences with Geospatial Creator in Unity (left) and Adobe Aero (right)

Geospatial Creator, powered by ARCore and Photorealistic 3D Tiles from Google Maps Platform, enables developers and creators to easily visualize where in the real-world they want to place their digital content, similar to how Google Earth or Google Street View visualize the world. Geospatial Creator also includes new capabilities, such as Rooftop anchors, to make it even easier to anchor virtual content with the 3D Tiles, saving developers and creators time and effort in the creation process.

These tools help you build world-anchored, cross-platform experiences on supported devices on both Android and iOS. Immersive experiences built in Adobe Aero can be shared via a simple QR code scan or link with no full app download required. Everything you create in Geospatial Creator can be experienced in the physical world through real time localization and real world augmentation.


With Geospatial Creator, developers and creators can now build on top of Photorealistic 3D Tiles from Google Maps Platform (left) which provide real time localization and real time augmentation (right)

When the physical world is augmented with digital content, it redefines the way people play, shop, learn, create, shop and get information. To give you an idea of what you can achieve with these tools, we’ve been working with partners in gaming, retail, and local discovery including Gap, Mattel, Global Street Art, Singapore Tourism Board, Gensler, TAITO, and more to build real world use cases.

SPACE INVADERS: World Defense immersive game turns the world into a playground

Later this summer you’ll be able to play one of the most acclaimed arcade games in real life, in the real world. To celebrate the 45 year anniversary of the original release, TAITO will launch SPACE INVADERS: World Defense. The game, powered by ARCore and Geospatial Creator, is inspired by the original gameplay where players will have to defend the Earth from SPACE INVADERS in their neighborhood. It will combine AR and 3D gameplay to deliver a fully contextual and highly engaging immersive experience that connects multi-generations of players.



Gap and Mattel transform a storefront into an interactive immersive experience

Gap and Mattel will transform the iconic Times Square Gap Store into an interactive Gap x Barbie experience powered by Geospatial Creator in Adobe Aero. Starting May 23, customers will see the store come to life with colors and shapes and be able to interact with Barbie and her friends modeling the new limited edition Gap x Barbie collection of clothing.

moving image of Gap by Mattel

Global Street Art brings street art to a new dimension with AR murals

Google Arts & Culture partnered with Global Street Art and three world-renowned artists to augment physical murals in London (Camille Walala), Mexico City (Edgar Saner), and Los Angeles (Tristan Eaton). The artists used Geospatial Creator in Adobe Aero to create the virtual experience, augmenting physical murals digitally in AR and bringing to life a deeper and richer story about the art pieces.



Singapore Tourism Board creates an immersive guided tour to explore Singapore

Google Partner Innovation team partnered with Singapore Tourism Board to launch a preview of an immersive Singapore guided tour in their VisitSingapore app. Merli, Singapore's tourism mascot, leads visitors on an interactive augmented tour of the city’s iconic landmarks and hidden gems, beginning with the iconic Merlion Park and engaging visitors with an AR symphony performance at Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall. The full guided tour is launching later this summer, and will help visitors discover the best local hawker food, uncover the city's history through scenes from the past, and more.


Gensler helps communities visualize new urban projects

Gensler used Geospatial Creator in Adobe Aero to help communities easily envision what new city projects might look like for the unhoused. The immersive designs of housing projects allows everyone to better visualize the proposed urban changes and their social impact—ultimately bringing suitable shelter to those who need it.

moving image of city projects from Gensler

Geospatial Creator gives anyone the superpower of creating world scale AR experience remotely. Both developers and creators can build and publish immersive experiences in minutes in countries where Photorealistic 3D Tiles are available. In just a few clicks, you can create applications that help communities, delight your users, and provide solutions to businesses. Get started today at goo.gle/geospatialcreator. We’re excited to see what you create when the world is your canvas, playground, gallery, or more!

A Tool for Exploring and Testing Google Workspace APIs

Posted by Chanel Greco, Developer Advocate Google Workspace

We recently launched the Google Workspace APIs Explorer, a new tool to help streamline developing on the Google Workspace Platform. What is this handy tool and how can you start using it?

The Google Workspace APIs Explorer is a tool that allows you to explore and test Google Workspace APIs without having to write any code. It's a great way to get familiar with the capabilities of the many Google Workspace APIs.

The Google Workspace APIs Explorer is a web-based tool that allows you to interact with Google Workspace APIs in a visual way.

Screenshot of Google Workspace API Explorer

How to use the Google Workspace APIs Explorer

To use this tool, simply navigate to the Google Workspace APIs Explorer page and select the API that you want to explore. The Google Workspace APIs Explorer will then display a list of all the methods available for that API. You can click on any method to see more information about it, including its parameters, responses, and examples.

To test an API method, simply enter the required parameters and click on the "Execute" button. The Google Workspace APIs Explorer will then send the request to the API and return the response. Please note, the tool acts on real data and authenticates with your Google Account, so use caution when trying methods that create, modify, or delete data.

Screenshot of Google Sheets API get in Google workspace API Explorer
Click to enlarge

How you can benefit from using the Google Workspace APIs Explorer

These are some of the benefits of using the Google Workspace APIs Explorer:

  • You can browse and discover the 25+ different Google Workspace APIs.
  • The tool can help you create code samples for your integrations or add-ons.
  • It can assist with troubleshooting problems with Google Workspace APIs.
  • It is a neat way to see the results of API requests in real time.

Getting started

You can access the Google Workspace APIs Explorer tool on the Google Workspace for Developers documentation, either through the navigation (Resources > API Explorer), or on its dedicated page. You will need a Google account to use the tool. This account can either be a Google Workspace account or the Google account you use for accessing tools like Gmail, Drive, Docs, Calendar, and more.

We also have a video showing how you can get started using the Google Workspace APIs Explorer – check it out here!

4 updates from the Google for Games Developer Summit

Posted by Alex Chen, Google for Games

This week, we announced new games solutions and updates to our tools at the Google for Games Developer Summit, a free digital event for developers, publishers and advertisers. From highlighting viewership growth trends on YouTube gaming to reaching more players on different devices with Google Play Games on PC, here’s a quick recap with some of our top announcements and key updates.

1. Build high-quality games on Android

The Android team talked about how they’ve made it easier to develop fun and engaging games with updates to Android vitals and the Android Game Development Kit. They also shared how you can get these games to more users on more devices, with Android support for form factors like foldables, Chromebooks and PCs. Learn more about these announcements, including new ways to connect with a global audience, on the Android Developers blog.

2. Strengthen your ads monetization and growth strategies

Google Ads showed advertisers how to get more value from both in-app ads and in-app purchases with a new feature called target return on ad spend for hybrid monetization. And AdMob showed publishers how to save time and costs with a more efficient way to manage ad mediation, with a revamped buyer management interface and streamlined ad unit mapping workflow. See more in the Google Ads blog post.

3. Create connections with your community

As a home of popular gaming creators, videos, and livestreams worldwide, YouTube continues to see incredible growth. The YouTube team announced that over 2 trillion hours of gaming content was consumed in 2022. Through different formats, availability on multiple devices and culture-shaping Creators, they’re committed to being the place where game publishers and Creators reach players and build communities around their favorite games.

4. Keep players engaged with live service games

Google Cloud shared their strategy for live service game development. They’re combining technology that brings togethers players from all over the world, databases that store critical data for an optimal player experience and the analytics that allow game companies to foster a relationship with their players. Learn more on Google Cloud’s blog.

Whether it’s creating the newest hit game, connecting with an enthusiastic community or growing your business to reach more players everywhere, Google is glad to be your partner along the way. To learn more, you can access all content on demand. And if you’re planning to attend Game Developers Conference next week in San Francisco, come say hi at one of our in-person developer sessions.

Meet our newest Accelerator: Climate Change cohort

Posted by Matt Ridenour, Head of Startup Developer Ecosystem - USA

Scaling high potential startups aimed at tackling climate change can have an immensely positive impact for our planet.

In line with Google’s broader commitment to address climate change, we are proud to announce the third cohort for our Google for Startups Accelerator: Climate Change program. This 10-week digital accelerator brings the best of Google’s people, products and programming to help take early-stage North American climate tech startups to the next level.

Meet the 12 exceptional startups using cloud technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and more for a healthier planet.

Agrology, Alexandria, VA

Agrology's predictive agriculture platform helps farmers grow with confidence and beat climate change through data, insights and soil monitoring at scale.

BattGenie, Seattle, WA

BattGenie provides Li-ion battery management software and solutions, enabling safe, fast charging while improving battery life cycle.

Bodhi, Austin, TX

Bodhi empowers solar companies to deliver amazing customer experiences, automating communications so installers can focus on increasing renewable energy access.

Cambio, San Francisco, CA

Cambio is software that helps commercial real estate companies and their corporate tenants decarbonize their buildings.

Cleartrace, Austin, TX

Cleartrace is disrupting legacy reporting with a new standard for how energy and decarbonization information is collected, stored, accessed and transacted.

ElectricFish, Fremont, CA

ElectricFish builds and deploys resilient, flexible EV infrastructure to accelerate decarbonization and support community climate adaptation.

Enersion, Toronto, ON

Enersion offers zero-emission solar trigeneration energy that converts solar radiation into refrigerant-free cooling, heating and electricity.

Eugenie AI, Cupertino, CA

Eugenie is an AI intelligence platform for asset-heavy manufacturers to track, trace, and reduce emissions while improving operations.

Finch, Denver, CO

Finch is a platform that decodes products' environmental footprints to help consumers and shares insights with businesses.

Refiberd, Cupertino, CA

Refiberd is tackling the 186 billion pound global textile waste problem with the first AI-empowered circular textile sorting and reclamation system.

Sesame Solar, Jackson, MI

Sesame Solar is decarbonizing disaster response with rapidly deployable mobile Nanogrids with essential services, providing continuous power from 100% renewable energy.

Voltpost, New York City, NY

Voltpost decarbonizes mobility and democratizes charging access by retrofitting lamp posts into modular electric vehicle charging stations.

These companies will join the other 22 startups from across North America who have participated in the accelerator (see program alumni).

In addition to mentorship and technical project support, the 10-week program will focus on product design, customer acquisition, and leadership development, granting startups access to an expansive network of mentors, senior executives, and industry leaders. All Google for Startups Accelerators are equity-free, so selected companies don’t have to offer anything to participate.

We are honored to partner with this cohort of companies through this accelerator and beyond, to advance their technologies and protect our planet.

The program kicks off on Tuesday, March 7 and concludes with a virtual Demo Day on May 11. Stay tuned and join us in celebrating these exceptional startups.