We continue to keep a cautiously-optimistic eye on buzzy tech that could impact local commerce. And one of the buzziest things out there right now is the metaverse. It’s still a concept car, as the internet loses its collective mind over the topic, but there are some worthwhile elements to extract.
For example, one potential metaverse outcome deviates from common connotations of synchronous online worlds. Developing in parallel is a “real-world metaverse’ where digital content adds depth and meaning to physical places. That’s actually truer to the Greek Root meta which means “beyond.”
And that vision is obviously relevant for local commerce as informational AR overlays can add context to everything from storefronts to products you see on the street. Google and other local commerce giants are moving in this direction, and it’s the topic of Localogy’s Place Conference in September.
Visual Positioning System
With that backdrop, Niantic pushed things forward with yesterday’s Lightship launch. Previously announced, this is its platform that will empower developers to build Pokemon Go-like geospatial AR apps. It takes the game’s architecture and spatial mapping chops and wraps it up in a platform.
With the full name Lightship VPS, it builds on the concept of a visual positioning system. Rather than GPS’ satellite data, it uses visual cues in the world around us to “localize” a given device. Once that device knows where it is and what it’s looking at, it can infuse the right digital content.
Niantic isn’t the only one developing this principle. Google’s Live View 3D navigation does something similar by localizing devices using Street View imagery. Object recognition from its Street View database can inform a device where it is and what it’s looking at, thus enabling 3D wayfinding overlays.
That gives Google a considerable edge in developing a VPS-based product. So how will Niantic gain that level of visual data to feed into its VPS system? The answer is its users. For a few years, it’s been crowdsourcing the development of “spatial maps” as Pokemon Go players roam the earth.
And by launching Lightship, it hopes to scale up its efforts and gain more comprehensive spatial maps through several geospatial AR apps. This works towards what Niantic calls “planet-scale AR.” It’s an ambitious undertaking that attempts to boil the ocean, but with enormously valuable potential.
Federated Framework
When you combine the efforts of Google and Niantic, there could be robust collective spatial maps that can fuel real-world metaverse apps. Add the detailed spatial maps collected by autonomous vehicles (via LiDAR) and the opportunity for the real-world metaverse’s infrastructure starts to come together.
But though more comprehensive spatial maps can be gained from federating these systems, the above players are incentivized to build walled gardens… just like the dynamics that ruled 2D mapping for the past several years. Could we see a sort of Open Street Map for spatial mapping data emerge?
Meanwhile, another principle jumps out from Niantic’s latest move: a B2B shift. Its expansion from a consumer-facing game to a B2B data provider is reminiscent of Foursquare’s pivot. And like with Foursquare, this is a more sustainable business model as consumer app darlings tend to fade over time.
Another analogy for Niantic’s B2B play is Amazon Web Services. Amazon developed it because of its own escalating and variable compute needs. Then it realized it had something valuable on its hands and spun it out as its own product. We’ll see if Niantic achieves some degree of the same with Lightship.
