What Niantic Spatial does
Niantic Spatial builds real-world foundation models for physical AI — Large Geospatial Models (LGMs) trained on more than 30 billion geolocated images that understand and reason about the physical world the way LLMs reason about text. The company's flagship products include the Visual Positioning System (VPS), which delivers centimeter-accurate AR localization across hundreds of thousands of points of interest worldwide; Niantic Map, an AI-generated 3D map of the world built from those scans; and ImaginateAR, an AI tool that lets creators generate full AR experiences from text and image prompts.
Niantic Spatial formed in May 2025 as a spinoff from Niantic, Inc. after Niantic sold its game franchises — Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now — to Scopely for $3.85B. The remaining spatial-AI team, infrastructure, and capital ($250M) became Niantic Spatial, with CEO John Hanke, CTO Brian McClendon (formerly of Google Maps), and COO Thomas Gewecke at the helm. The company is now squarely focused on becoming the infrastructure layer for spatial computing — for AR glasses, robotics, autonomous machines, and consumer AR apps.
In June 2025, Snap Inc. made a strategic investment and signed a multi-year partnership to integrate VPS into Snap's Spectacles and AR ecosystem, jointly building a next-generation AI map. Niantic Spatial also licenses its technology to enterprise AR, gaming, and robotics partners.
Who it's for
Niantic Spatial targets AR platform builders, robotics companies, automotive and mapping firms, and AAA developers that need world-scale spatial understanding. Its sweet spot is teams building AR glasses, autonomous robots, location-based games, and outdoor navigation experiences that need centimeter-accurate placement and persistent shared worlds.
Pricing
Niantic Spatial offers enterprise licensing for VPS and Niantic Map, with custom contracts based on usage, region coverage, and integration depth. Lightweight developer tiers are available via Niantic Studio.
Team & funding
Niantic Spatial was capitalized with $250M from the Scopely transaction in May 2025, and Snap Inc. added a strategic investment in June 2025. The leadership team is anchored by John Hanke (founder and former CEO of Niantic and Keyhole), Brian McClendon (ex-Google Maps SVP), and Thomas Gewecke.
Position vs competitors
Niantic Spatial competes with Apple's ARKit, Google's Geospatial API, Microsoft Azure Spatial Anchors, and emerging spatial-AI startups. Its differentiation is the world-scale, real-imagery training dataset accumulated over a decade of player scans and the deep talent in geospatial systems behind it.