Questions about RoomPlan, Room API, USDZ/STEP comparison, and extended spatial scanning

1. Can the RoomPlan or Room API load an existing USDZ room model and compare it in real time with a new live scan of the same space?

No, unfortunately this is not possible just with built-in methods.

1. Is Apple considering extending RoomPlan beyond indoor rooms, for example to scan outdoor areas, house exteriors, terrain, and simple building volumes with rough dimensions?
2. Will RoomPlan support multi-floor continuous scanning, custom object detection elements, and reliable export of the scanned result to USDZ for further CAD/BIM workflows?

We cannot comment on future plans. But this is valuable feedback. Please make sure to also file these requests via feedback assistant. As for detecting custom objects, iOS 27 now supports ML-based object tracking: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/visionos/implementing-object-tracking-in-your-app

1. Is it possible to create a real-time comparator between a reference object in USDZ or STEP format and a physical object being scanned live, so that deviations in geometry or dimensions can be detected during scanning?

On a Vision Pro you could run a SceneReconstructionProvider to obtain a mesh of the physical object and then you would have to implement your own comparison function against the USD's mesh.

The one feature which will be good and can be used on iPad and iPhone pro and vision pro would be on device Hardware acelerated comparator API and extend ScenerecostructionProvider to iPhone and iPad with lidars , second for custom ML (but can be also maked that you send object to detection to ai model in cloud which generate 3d model from lidar detection and paste in usdz file) yes is possible but this also need to be combine to have detection and also add to roomplan api geometry combine api end export custom detected object with simple api in swift this would be beneficial also for vision pro and for the end continuous scanning for multifloor floor where we have lobby with big stairs or angle sloops would be visionOS beneficial

And also tanks you for your answer

RoomPlan and ARKit already provide most of the components required for professional as-built verification: semantic room reconstruction, LiDAR scene meshes, world tracking, relocalization, reference-object tracking, and on-device ML.

What is still missing is a system-level, hardware-accelerated API that compares a reference design with the live reconstructed physical environment.

The proposed API should accept reference geometry or a semantic spatial model, persistent object identifiers, a reference/world transform, and configurable dimensional tolerances, and continuously return measured deviations between the design model and the observed scene.

Example outputs:

Wall W103 Endpoint deviation: -31 mm Status: Out of tolerance

Pipe P204 Centerline deviation: +12 mm Status: Within tolerance

Valve V204 Status: Expected but not observed Confidence: 0.93

Door D14 Status: Matched Deviation: 6 mm

The API should expose measured deviation, confidence, tracking quality, and estimated measurement accuracy.

The important capability is not support for another CAD or BIM file format. Third-party applications can convert IFC, STEP, USD, USDZ, or other engineering formats into the reference representation required by the framework.

The important system-level workflow is:

Design intent → Spatial registration → Live LiDAR / camera reconstruction → Reference-to-reality comparison → Quantified deviations

This would allow an engineer to walk through a construction site or industrial plant with an iPhone, iPad Pro, or Vision Pro and receive real-time verification such as:

this wall is positioned correctly this wall is 31 mm too short this pipe is within installation tolerance this valve is missing this opening is too small this equipment is installed at the wrong elevation

RoomPlan currently answers:

“What is here?”

A comparison API would allow Apple spatial frameworks to also answer:

“How does what is here differ from what should be here?”

This could support construction QA/QC, BIM as-built verification, renovation, industrial installation, commissioning, digital twins, facility management, and automated progress inspection.

Developers can already implement custom mesh comparison algorithms themselves, but this requires recreating functionality that could be much more accurate and efficient when implemented close to Apple’s calibrated camera, LiDAR, IMU, Neural Engine, and ARKit tracking stack.

A native reference-to-reality comparator would therefore be much more valuable than simply adding additional export formats.