Snap Inc. and Niantic’s New Partnership Could Revolutionize City-Scale AR Positioning and Experiences

Alright, so let me just ramble about this wild teaming up between Snap Inc.—you know, the Snapchat folks—and Niantic Spatial, the gang famous for making you walk miles to catch a virtual dragon in Pokémon Go. They’re doing something kinda big, or at least they think so. They’re basically trying to mash AR into your everyday life by letting devices figure out where they are in a city-sized playground. Sounds bonkers, right?

Okay, so here’s the bit that blew my mind: normally your AR headset is just trying to not smash into walls while figuring out if the couch is really there. But Niantic wants these devices not just to know where the couch is, but to get all the devices to chat with each other too. Like, imagine everyone seeing the same virtual pet race on Main Street. Cool? Weird?

Now, Snap’s got its Spectacles—those fancy AR glasses—and they want to give them superpowers using Niantic’s Visual Positioning System. Think of it like snazzy GPS. But unlike your car GPS that throws you into a lake sometimes, this one supposedly lets you and your friends see… I dunno, a dancing alien in the park? If I’m honest, it just sounds like a trippy sci-fi novel.

Anyway!—or wait—was I onto something else? Oh yeah, user-generated content is key here. They’re getting folks to use their phones to scan spaces. Want that sweet AR filter? Scan this area first. It’s like a scavenger hunt but for data. And this info helps Niantic’s map stay fresh.

Seriously though, Niantic’s been rolling with this concept since… what, like 2013 with Ingress? I remember when Pokémon Go actually made people care about sunburns again. Now, post-gaming, they’re all in on this AR map idea. Meanwhile, Snap’s probably eyeing its 900 million users, thinking about the treasure trove of location info they’d be sitting on.

It’s described as “strategic”—which in corporate speak, translates to “we’re putting money into this, so it better not flop.” But hey, if it works, we might just be living in a world where everybody sees the same virtual dinosaur crashing your coffee date. Or not. Who knows.