Built into your iOS device is a really clever little app that will let you measure real-world objects using Augmented Reality. Here’s how it works. The Measure App is delightfully simple. When you open it up, you’ll see the camera straight away, and you can view the world around you. You’ll also notice a little white dot in the middle of your screen – this will snap onto X, Y, and Z planes. If you position it at the beginning of your object, you can then tap the Plus Button to add your first point, then slowly move your iPad along the object and press the Add Point button again.

Here, I’ll measure the height of the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m going to press the Snapshot button here to take a quick photo, and I’ll show you why in a second. Moving on, let’s now measure the length of the Golden Gate Bridge. Again, I’m going to position my little dot, press that button, and then move it along and press at the other end too. I’ll just take a couple more measurements for San Francisco, and then I’m going to press the button on the screen here which will show me all the measurements I’ve taken so far. Because I took a photo of each one, it will also show me what measurement that was, and if I tap onto it, I can get more details including how far away I was or the elevation from the ground. Some really clever stuff here, built right into your iOS device.

Of course, it can also measure larger objects as well – let’s have a quick look in the garden, and we’ll measure my Sunflower, which I am very proud of! I’m going to line up that dot on the very top of the sunflower, or as close as I can get, and I’m going to move down the stem and press it again at the base. I can’t believe that, over two and a half metres tall! Again, get into the habit of taking a photograph of each measurement because then you’re able to view them all later back in class.

I’m going to take one last measurement now, and if I look down at my patio tiles, you’ll notice that it’s actually found the shape of a square in one of those tiles. If I press the Add Point button now, it will actually measure that whole square for me – the length and the width. So, I’ve got a really great measurement of that shape. One last time, I’ll press the button to view all my measurements, and I can then see my sunflower and my patio slab measured on there. Imagine using this in your classroom and sending the children off to go measure objects around the room or around the school, and then you can have a lovely list of all those measurements back on your iPad afterwards. It’s really powerful and it’s completely free, built into all of your iOS devices.

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