Location AR

Lightship VPS (Visual Positioning System) is a cloud service that enables applications to localize a user's device at real-world locations with centimeter-level precision. This lets users engage with high-fidelity immersive experiences and persistent AR content tied to their physical environment. To do this VPS queries Niantic Map, our third-generation 3D map, to determine the position and orientation (pose) of the user's device in seconds.

When a device makes a call to the VPS service, the service takes a query image from the user's device along with their GPS location as inputs and attempts to localize them using the map(s) that exist at that location. If localization is successful, then the service returns the device's position and orientation (pose) corresponding with the timestamp of the image that was transmitted. Because there is a time delay between when a VPS query image is captured and when a response is received from the VPS service, the device needs to have a motion tracking system in order to stay accurately localized while moving. When the VPS service returns a pose estimate to the device, the difference in pose from the device's tracking system is added to the localization response so that VPS can “keep up” with how the device moved during the request.

AR scans from players, developers, and surveyors are the fundamental ingredient that Niantic uses to build its AR map of the world. AR scans are recorded and uploaded using Niantic's AR scanning framework, which is a module used inside Pokemon Go, Ingress, and the Wayfarer App. Each AR scan consists of a series of video frames with supporting data from accelerometers and GPS sensors that construct a 3D model of the world from multiple 2D images. AR scans are used by Niantic to build maps and meshes of real-world locations.

VPS is available at over 170,000 real-world locations on Niantic Map, with more locations being added every day. Developers can scan locations at any time to add them to Niantic Map and enable VPS-powered experiences at them. 

In order for a location to be available on VPS, a sufficient amount of AR scan data must be uploaded at that location and VPS activation must be requested and completed. Developers can see the activation status of locations in the Geospatial Browser.

VPS works best when there is good visibility. In order to maximize the likelihood of successful VPS-powered experiences, it is best to upload many AR scans that cover a wide swath of different conditions (e.g. different times of day, different weather conditions, etc.). If you are building an experience in a location that gets a lot of rain, having some scans from a rainy day is very helpful.

Niantic Lightship Maps for Web is a module that provides easy-to-use and customizable real-world maps to build your location-based WebAR experiences. It makes it easy to create a variety of location-based experiences like:

• Create a 3D character on a map with a user's GPS location.
• Create city-wide WebAR experiences, like scavenger hunts.
• Teleport to any location in the world.
• Visualize project VPS locations and nearby VPS-activated locations on a map.
• Help users understand the distance to various locations.

Lightship Maps supports the following functionality:

• Zoom in to the street level and zoom out to see the entire city.
• Choose from several preconfigured map themes, or deeply customize the look and feel of the map and various content types, such as roads, buildings, parks, and water.
• Enable game-like camera view.