Snap Inc. and Niantic’s New Partnership: A Major Breakthrough for City-scale AR Positioning and Experiences

Oh man, where do I even begin with this? So, Snap Inc. — you know, those folks behind Snapchat and those sorta cool Spectacles AR glasses? — they’re getting all buddy-buddy with Niantic Spatial. Like, why? Apparently, it’s all about geospatial stuff. Yeah, I had to Google that too. Anyway, they’re teaming up so Snapchat and Spectacles can basically know exactly where they are in a city, which honestly sounds both awesome and kinda creepy.

So, here’s the deal. Most AR gadgets are smart enough these days to figure out where they are. Like, you put on a headset, and boom, it knows your living room better than you do. But, if you wanna hang out with someone in AR and see the same thing at the same time? Oh boy, they’re on a whole other level now. They need to share a map — like a shared brain? That’s what Niantic’s up to with their Visual Positioning System, or VPS if you’re into acronyms.

Niantic’s, um, been at this for ages. GPS just isn’t cutting it, so they’re making a super detailed world map. Think of it like, every park bench and city square is now part of this shared, hyper-accurate AR map. Imagine seeing a virtual band jamming out in the middle of your local park. How wild would that be?

Snap’s jumping on board with this, and they’re showing off some concept video where cities are these crazy AR dreamlands. I can’t even imagine the chaos of mixed reality like that. Apparently, developers can stick AR experiences to real places with, get this, centimeter-level precision. So yeah, you’ll know who claims dibs on that one park bench.

Oh, and there’s money in the mix. Of course, right? Snap’s throwing cash at Niantic for what they’re calling a “strategic multi-year partnership.” Fancy words, I guess. Swap expertise, maybe some money, and bam, potential AR magic.

Niantic’s after your data though — in a not-so-evil way (I hope). They’ve had a taste of it with games like Ingress and Pokémon Go. So, with Snap in the picture, I guess they’re gonna turbocharge that data-collecting beast. What’s next? Glad you asked. They want users to scan places in real life to power this VPS thing. Like, scan a park to unlock a cool lens. Fun, right? Keeps their world map fresh and never stale.

Let’s talk Spectacles — still kind of a quirky thing, but with Snapchat’s audience of what, like a billion minds? Niantic and Snap could be onto something big. Who knows, maybe we’ll all be seeing AR unicorns in Central Park someday soon. Or, maybe we’ll just get stuck on our phones like usual. Honestly, who knows where all this is heading… Time will tell.