Inspiration
Reality Overlap is inspired by the idea that physical spaces already contain social memory, behavioral patterns, and collective meaning—but today, this layer is mostly invisible. Coming from an architectural and spatial-computing background, I wanted to treat space not as a static container, but as a shared interface that can be written, annotated, and re-experienced by people over time.
The project builds conceptually on Space Hackers, where users intervene in urban space through collective digital actions. Reality Overlap brings this idea into Mixed Reality on Meta Quest, asking: What if physical campuses, studios, or cities could host persistent, shared XR layers authored by their users?
What it does
Reality Overlap is a co-situated XR experience that allows users to place, discover, and interact with spatially anchored digital content directly inside real spaces using passthrough MR.
Users can:
- Place digital traces (textual or interactive elements) in physical locations
- Re-encounter these traces across sessions
- Experience space as a shared, evolving social layer rather than a neutral backdrop
The experience is designed to work asynchronously, meaning spaces accumulate meaning over time—even with a single headset—rather than requiring simultaneous multiplayer presence.
How we built it
The project was built using Unity and Meta Quest hardware, leveraging the current Meta XR stack:
- Passthrough Mixed Reality
- Spatial Anchors (local and shared concepts)
- Controller- and hand-based interaction
- Room/group-based anchor logic
Because Meta Quest devices currently do not have native GPS access, all localization relies on:
- SLAM-based spatial anchoring
- Room-scale or environment-relative positioning
- User-initiated spatial alignment rather than geospatial coordinates
This constraint strongly shaped the design, pushing the experience toward hyper-local, place-based meaning instead of global location mapping.
Challenges we ran into
One of the biggest challenges was working at the edge of what current XR SDKs support.
- No native GPS on Quest makes true geo-anchored AR impossible without external devices or custom pipelines.
- Spatial anchors are reliable at room/building scale, but still sensitive to lighting conditions, boundaries, and rescanning.
- Designing interactions that feel natural in passthrough MR while respecting safety boundaries required constant iteration.
- The SDK ecosystem is still evolving, meaning some desired features (persistent world-scale anchors, semantic location layers) must be architected conceptually rather than fully implemented.
Balancing architectural ambition with real-world hardware constraints was a central challenge.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Creating a meaningful shared spatial experience that works even with a single headset
- Designing an XR system focused on place memory and social traces, not just visuals
- Translating architectural and spatial theory into an executable XR prototype
- Demonstrating how Meta Quest can support non-game, non-entertainment XR use cases such as learning, collaboration, and spatial authorship
What we learned
This project clarified the current state—and future needs—of XR development on Meta platforms.
- XR becomes fundamentally social when space is shared and persistent
- Technical limitations (like lack of GPS) are not just constraints, but also design drivers
- Spatial computing requires thinking beyond screens and scenes—into memory, behavior, and presence *Existing SDKs are powerful, but next-generation XR will need better tools for:
- World-scale persistence
- Hybrid localization (SLAM + geo context)
- Semantic spatial layers
What's next for Reality Overlap
Next steps include:
- Exploring external localization sources (paired mobile devices, environmental markers)
- Developing richer interaction types beyond static traces
- Expanding from single-space experiments to campus-scale prototypes
- Preparing the system for multi-user research, education, and civic applications
Long-term, Reality Overlap aims to contribute to the idea of XR as shared spatial infrastructure, where physical environments and digital layers genuinely coexist.
Built With
- anchors
- c#
- controllers
- environment-mapping
- hand-tracking
- horizon
- interaction
- mapping
- mr
- os
- passthrough
- quest
- slam
- spatial