We're excited to announce that Niantic VPS for Web is now fully integrated into Niantic Studio, giving developers a powerful new way to build, test, and deploy location-based WebAR experiences with unmatched precision. This update combines the power of the Niantic Visual Positioning System (VPS) with Niantic Studio’s intuitive visual interface, making creating WebAR content that seamlessly interacts with the digital world easier than ever. 

At the heart of this update is Niantic VPS, a groundbreaking AR technology that lets you localize users and anchor digital content in the physical world with centimeter-level precision. VPS ensures that digital elements align perfectly with real-world objects and locations, solving one of AR’s biggest challenges: keeping digital content stable and accurately placed, no matter where users are. Whether you're designing a virtual art installation or creating interactive gameplay in urban environments, VPS guarantees that your digital creations feel firmly rooted in the real world.

What sets Niantic VPS apart is its growing global map of over 600,000 VPS-activated locations, curated from millions of community-submitted scans from Niantic’s developers and players. These human-centric locations are optimized for high-fidelity interactions and immersive AR experiences. Each location’s mesh is created by combining dozens of individual scans to form a detailed, high-quality 3D model. And with 50,000 new locations added weekly, the map is constantly expanding. Need a specific area not yet covered? Simply scan it with Niantic Scaniverse for Developers (available now for iOS, with Android coming soon) and bring any place to life in WebAR.

By fully integrating Niantic VPS into Niantic Studio's visual editor and web gaming engine, you can now build, test, and deploy WebAR experiences with unprecedented ease.

Visualize, test, and deploy VPS-activated experiences all from your desk 
Niantic Studio's visual editor makes the entire real-world WebAR development process—from building to testing to deploying—intuitive and straightforward.  

It starts with the Geospatial Browser (GSB), where you can explore Niantic's library of VPS-activated locations or add your own. Once you’ve selected a location, the corresponding VPS mesh is added to the Studio Viewport, giving you a 3D foundation to place and adjust digital content in real time.


With Studio’s tools—Viewport, Scene Hierarchy, and Inspector—you can precisely adjust and position your AR elements in the scene. Whether you're designing a WebAR mural tied to a location or a sculpture that comes to life when scanned by a user, Studio gives you complete control to fine-tune every detail and create persistent, location-based experiences.


For the first time, you can also test your experiences remotely without ever leaving your desktop. Studio's Simulator allows you to simulate movement within your scene using simple WASD controls to see how WebAR elements interact with the real-world environment and ensure everything works as expected before deployment. This capability reduces iteration time and makes refining the experience easier. 


When you're ready, you can deploy your experience directly from Studio. Because Studio is built on the power of the Web, you can publish their VPS experiences across devices—whether a smartphone, desktop, or advanced headset—so users can engage with your WebAR content anywhere there's an internet connection.

Create real-world web gameplay with Niantic VPS and the Niantic Studio’s web gaming engine
With VPS and Studio's web gaming engine, you can do more than place AR content—you can transform the real world into the backdrop of interactive WebAR gameplay.

Imagine players solving puzzles that adapt to their environment or collecting virtual items that interact with the landscape as they explore. VPS ensures AR objects remain accurately anchored across sessions, while the web game engine brings them to life with animations, lighting, physics, and state machine models. WebAR elements might glow as users approach, change their appearance based on the time of day, or trigger new interactions in real time. With VPS, you can also build persistent experiences that evolve over time, allowing players to return to the same location and continue where they left off, adding depth and engagement to ongoing games or stories.

With support in Studio for both VPS and Gaussian splats, you can now create multi-modal gameplay experiences that work in both physical locations and remotely in WebXR. Capture a VPS mesh and a splat using Niantic Scaniverse, and then transform these locations into real-world experiences that can be enjoyed on-site at a VPS-activated location or remotely in WebXR. This powerful combination of VPS and splat support expands creative possibilities for seamless, real-world experiences. 


Unlock the future of real-world WebAR with Niantic VPS for Web
Niantic VPS for Web, combined with the robust tools in Niantic Studio, is setting a new standard for what's possible in WebAR development. Developers now can create immersive, location-based experiences that feel deeply tied to the real world—whether by using Niantic's vast library of VPS-activated locations or uploading their own.

Niantic VPS is available for both Basic and Pro users in Studio. You can start building with VPS in Studio with a generous free tier of 25,000 calls per month. To learn more, view our FAQ.  

Whether you're building a city-wide game or interactive art exhibit, Niantic VPS gives you the tools to bring your vision to life. Start building today with by cloning and mixing our VPS sample project, or sign up for a free Niantic Studio account to unlock a world of possibilities.