Nov. 3, 2026

Spatial Computing Explained: AR, VR, Geospatial, Digital Twins & AI World Models | Jake Steinerman

Show Notes

How does your phone know where to place an AR arrow on a real street, and what makes a digital copy of the world useful?

In this episode of An Hour of Innovation podcast, Vit Lyoshin speaks with Jake Steinerman, a spatial computing practitioner working in developer relations at Cesium, about the technology that connects digital experiences to physical places. Jake explains how augmented reality can recognize a room, object, or street; how geospatial data and digital twins help people see and monitor real infrastructure; and where AI world models could help build and test simulated scenarios.

You’ll learn

* What spatial computing means beyond the headset buzzwords

* How augmented reality differs from virtual reality and mixed reality

* Why you can experience useful AR on a phone, not only through glasses

* How an AR object can stay attached to a book, machine, desk, or street

* How Google Maps combines location, direction, and visual matching for AR walking directions

* Why Jake built a Google Glass concept to detect drowsiness while driving

* What can make VR movement uncomfortable and how developers respond

* Why virtual training can help people rehearse work on complex equipment

* How geospatial data differs from a digital twin

* What sensor readings and inspection data add to a 3D model of a bridge or building

* How AI has accelerated Jake's prototyping work and what world models aim to simulate

* Where a curious builder can start experimenting with VR, AR, and Cesium's geospatial tools

Jake Steinerman is an engineer and developer-relations practitioner who has worked across Google Glass, enterprise augmented reality, VR games and creator platforms, Meta's developer ecosystem, and Cesium. His hands-on experience shows what these technologies require behind the scenes: tracking the physical world, connecting models to useful data, and deciding whether a simulation answers a real question.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

01:31 What Is Spatial Computing?

03:18 AR vs VR vs Metaverse vs Digital Twins

05:40 Do You Need a Headset for AR and VR?

10:18 From Google Glass to Meta: 10 Years in XR

19:39 How Augmented Reality Tracking Works

26:20 Drive Safe: Google Glass Drowsiness Detection

31:01 Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality

33:17 VR Motion Sickness Explained

37:06 VR Training: Do Skills Transfer to Real Life?

42:22 Geospatial Data and Digital Twins