We’re delighted to announce the second beta release of the ArcGIS Maps SDKs for Unity and Unreal Engine!
It’s been four months since our first beta release and the ArcGIS Maps SDK for game engines beta program has been extremely popular. The program currently hosts over 2000 members, many of which are actively engaged in the forums. Development efforts span a wide variety of industries including AEC, defense, government, utilities, natural resources, education and more. Many of those efforts have spawned new ideas, prototypes, and product proposals for modern business applications that combine ArcGIS and real-world data with the power of Unity or Unreal Engine.
Here are a few examples of experiences built with the ArcGIS Maps SDK and game engines:
We’re excited to see the innovative ideas and great work by members of the beta community. We’ve spent the last few months listening to feedback, refining our architecture, and updating the Maps SDK to improve quality and usability in the latest beta. Beta 2 includes a few key enhancements:
-
- ArcGIS Platform is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that includes a developer experience for accessing ArcGIS location services and content. Beta 2 enables access to these services and content with an API key. An API key is a unique identifier used to provide authenticated access to a secured resource. An API key is similar to a token, but does not expire and can be used to monitor service usage from your apps. A default API key is created for you when you sign up for an ArcGIS developer account. If you already have an ArcGIS account, you can use your dashboard to edit your default API key or to create new keys. You can also configure an API key to access specific services or content.
-
- Access to secure ArcGIS services using OAuth and an ArcGIS identity.
-
- More intuitive memory management on mobile devices to reduce memory usage and improve performance.
-
- Ability to load layers that are not currently visible. This enables workflows where layers are initially invisible, but through interaction with the app, they can be made visible and render quickly.
-
- Access to view state of layers, elevation sources, and the scene at runtime. This will provide more detail on the current state of content, such as when a layer fails to load.
If you haven’t already, we invite you to use the following link to join the ArcGIS Maps SDK for game engines beta program: https://esriurl.com/a4ge We’re looking forward to your feedback, inspiration, and ideas!
Article Discussion: