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Niantic Spatial
American company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Niantic Spatial, Inc. (ny-AN-tik SPAY-shəl)[1] is an American-based geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) and spatial computing company headquartered in San Francisco. The company was formed as a spin-off from Niantic in May 2025, following the sale of Niantic's games division which included Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now, to Scopely.[2]
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into Niantic, Inc.. (Discuss) Proposed since November 2025. |
The company is developing a type of world foundation model that will help machines like AI agents, augmented reality glasses, and robots have an accurate geospatial and contextual understanding of the physical world.[3]
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History
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Founding
The technology and team behind Niantic Spatial originated within Niantic, Inc., which initially formed as an internal startup at Google in 2010.[4] As Niantic grew, the company evolved along two complementary paths: one focused on creating augmented reality location-based games[5], and another dedicated to advancing AR, AI, and geospatial technology.[6]
On March 12, 2025, Niantic announced an agreement to sell its mobile games division[7], excluding flagship AR applications Ingress and Peridot, to Scopely. The deal was finalized[8] on May 29, 2025, and Niantic Spatial was officially formed. The new company was initially capitalized with $250 million, consisting of $200 million from Niantic's balance sheet and a $50 million investment from Scopely.[9] All of Niantic's original investors remained shareholders in the new entity.
Niantic Spatial's founding leadership team notably includes John Hanke as chief executive officer, Brian McClendon as chief technology officer, and Thomas Gewecke as chief operating officer. Hanke and McClendon had previously founded Keyhole[10] which became the foundation for Google Earth and Google Maps. Gewecke was previously a senior business executive with tenure at Warner Brothers and Sony Music.[11]
Corporate history
In June 2025, Snap Inc. invested an undisclosed amount of capital into Niantic Spatial. They also announced a multi-year partnership which will integrate Niantic Spatial's scanning technology and VPS into Snap's ecosystem and focus on jointly building a next-generation AI map.[12]
In June 2025, immersive art and entertainment company Meow Wolf announced they are teaming up with Niantic Spatial to bring the Meow Wolf Universe globally anywhere in the world using Niantic Spatial's AR and VPS technology.[13]
In September 2025, Aechelon Technology, a global leader in flight simulation, announced they are partnering to use Niantic Spatial's geospatial AI and reconstruction technology to enhance U.S. Coast Guard training by integrating real-world 3D scans into flight simulators.[14]
In September 2025, game designer Hideo Kojima announced he is teaming up with Niantic Spatial to redefine immersive entertainment by bringing Kojima Productions' iconic interactive storytelling into the real world using Niantic Spatial's geospatial AI technology.[15]
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Technology and applications
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Large Geospatial Model
Niantic Spatial's platform services are powered by its Large Geospatial Model (LGM), described as a spatial counterpart to large language models, meant to give machines a contextual understanding of space and structure.[16] The Large Geospatial Model, built on a proprietary database of over 30 billion posed images[17] from ground and overhead sensors, delivers three key services: Reconstruction, Localization, and Understanding.
Reconstruction focuses on creating digital twins. Niantic Spatial offers its scanning app, Scaniverse, on mobile devices, which utilizes Gaussian splatting to capture 3D models of objects, spaces, and environments in real-time.[18] Niantic Spatial also captures mapping data from aerial drones and a custom-built mapping device called Photon.[19]
Localization focuses on positioning users, AI agents, and AR content in space. Niantic Spatial offers its Visual Positioning System (VPS) for centimeter-scale positioning, orientation, and tracking for millions of pre-mapped locations[20], including GPS-denied environments.[21]
Understanding focuses on providing real-time contextual awareness of the world. Niantic Spatial’s AI capabilities deliver this through per-pixel semantic analysis to classify environments into categories like ground and sky[22], and computer vision models that detect and track over 200 types of objects.
8th Wall
Niantic Spatial operates 8th Wall, a development platform that enables creators to build and publish interactive WebAR experiences. It provides a complete set of tools, including a cloud-based IDE and computer vision technology, allowing for the creation of immersive 3D and XR content that works across a wide range of devices without requiring an app.[23] In November 2025, it was announced that after seven years of operation, 8th Wall would be shut down. Existing projects on the platform will remain available until the services are closed in early 2027.[24]
Immersive Entertainment
Niantic Spatial operates real-world AR games and applications that serve as flagship demonstrations of its platform's capabilities.[25]
Ingress, launched in 2012 and upgraded from scratch in 2018, transferred to Niantic Spatial during its spin-off. Ingress is a global-scale version of capture the flag where players battle for control of virtual portals at real-world landmarks.[26]
Peridot, another full Niantic intellectual property, which includes a collection of products within its franchise, transferred to Niantic Spatial during its spin-off. The first product is an AR and AI pet-simulation game that launched on mobile devices in 2023.[27] The next products are a mixed-reality experience on Meta Quest[28] and Apple Vision Pro[29] called Hello, Dot, and an augmented-reality glasses experience on Snap's Spectacles called Peridot Beyond.[30]
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References
External links
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