Google wants to use Tango tech to sell interior mapping for VR

According to Bloomberg, Google plans to expand its Project Tango team and use the technology to add another revenue stream by selling interior mapping to designers of VR content. Google reportedly wants to “digitally map the interiors of buildings in 3D down to a resolution of a few inches and make money in virtual reality along the way”.

Bloomberg claims Google is planning a “big expansion” of the project this year and wants to make Tango tech ubiquitous. Job ads and changes to Tango’s developer software apparently support the claim. With Google I/O starting next week, we expect to hear more from Google as it pitches the technology to the assembled developers.

The Project Tango phone is expected to be launched at Lenovo’s TechWorld event on June 9, but considering the sheer volume of Project Tango sessions at I/O, there’s a lot of expectation that it will be unveiled at Google I/O beforehand. Multiple rumors claim the consumer version of the device will be handed out to the attendees and that would certainly make a lot of sense if Google is interested in pushing Tango as quickly as possible.

What do you think of Project Tango? Will it spread like wildfire or be a niche product?