How Sphere and Niantic Enhance Spatial Collaboration for Enterprises
At Niantic, we are building the 3D map of the future allowing people to interact with the world in new ways. We’re seeking partners to collaborate in advancing our technology and vision, enhancing real-world interactions through immersive experiences. Sphere’s mission is to connect people across space and location as if they were in the same room from any device, making spatial XR apps accessible to everyone. Sphere’s collaboration platform can represent users with lifelike avatars, capturing details down to eye blinks. What sets it apart is its ability to let participants seamlessly add, interact with, and collaborate around digital content in real time.
We spoke with Sven Brunner, Founder and CEO of Sphere, about the process of working with Niantic Spatial Platform to build a Spatial Planning and Remote Collaboration solution for Sphere’s enterprise customers.
Why Sphere chose Niantic Spatial Platform
One of the challenges of finding a spatial platform provider is that there aren’t that many. “XR thrives if you can connect with people. Looking at the history of Niantic, between Google and Pokémon GO, Niantic understands spatial, and that was very important to us – a company that has very good technology,” said Brunner. Multi-user localization is fundamental for Sphere’s spatial collaboration platform. The people were the second most important reason Brunner chose to partner with Niantic. “Niantic has a sweet spot of being mature, but has the speed and the people with the right mindset,” Brunner explained.
Niantic’s cross-platform, device-agnostic technology was the final selling point for Sphere. Niantic and Sphere believe that spatial technology should work for anyone - no matter which device they have. Niantic’s 3D scanning technology and automatic localization were net benefits for Sphere’s platform.
After the initial proof-of-concept evaluation, Brunner recognized the strong synergy between the two platforms. He saw that Niantic’s innovations could significantly enhance their work, particularly in these two key areas:
Bringing 3D content into XR
A major challenge for many companies is the lack of 3D models. While most organizations have PDFs, spreadsheets, images, and videos, they often don’t have CAD designs from vendors due to proprietary restrictions.
This is where Niantic’s 3D scanning capabilities make a difference. Instead of relying on pre-existing models, users can scan objects or equipment in real-time, generating accurate 3D representations. These scans can then be seamlessly uploaded into Sphere, allowing teams to interact with and collaborate on the objects in an XR environment. “It’s a huge benefit to be able to scan something in real-time and immediately put it to use,” said Brunner, emphasizing how this capability unlocks new possibilities for industries that previously lacked access to 3D assets.
Device mapping to enable seamless localization in multi-user setups
Instead of relying on traditional QR codes or manual scanning, Niantic’s technology allows multiple users to localize instantly within a shared space. Brunner highlighted the complexity of synchronizing several users in real time and the work that typically happens behind the scenes to achieve this. “Niantic provides a way to bring the magic in,” he said, emphasizing how Niantic’s localization technology automatically determines a user’s position within a space, making collaboration more fluid and intuitive.
Customers benefitting from the Niantic Spatial Platform and Sphere collaboration
A leading global manufacturer using Sphere has revolutionized its equipment maintenance process—even without official specifications or 3D models. With Sphere, trainees or engineers in the field can scan equipment and its surrounding environment, creating a digital model in real time. This scan is then sent to a subject matter expert in the office, who can annotate it spatially—circling components, drawing instructions, and guiding repairs directly on the 3D model. The trainee in the field sees these precise, interactive annotations overlaid on the equipment, enabling faster, more accurate maintenance. This innovation dramatically accelerates troubleshooting and repair workflows, reducing downtime and improving operational efficiency.
ZF Friedrichshafen AG (ZF), a German technology company that supplies systems for the automotive industry, needed a way to optimize space for new factory lines. Instead of relying on 3D prints or physical mock-ups, they now use Niantic’s scanning technology and Sphere’s spatial placement and collaboration tools to scan machines, virtually position them, and make real-time adjustments. This allows for precise dimensioning and seamless equipment reconfiguration, streamlining factory planning with interactive XR solutions.
What it's like to work with Niantic Spatial Platform
Collaborating with a new partner always presents challenges, but according to Brunner, the technical integration with Niantic was one of the smoothest they’ve experienced. “The main hurdle was simply defining our objectives and clarifying responsibilities,” he explained. Despite its maturity, Niantic maintains a startup spirit that enables rapid execution. Brunner also highlighted Niantic’s structured approach to these types of projects.
Sven Brunner, Founder and CEO
“Niantic has a well-defined blueprint, fairly easy to integrate and to use for third parties like us.”
Emerging trends Brunner is most excited about
“I’m probably going to get a lot of eye rolls for saying this, but it’s definitely AI,” Brunner said when asked about the emerging trends he’s most excited about. He believes XR, AI, and spatial technology are inherently complementary, working together to redefine how people interact with technology.
To Brunner, XR has always been the most intuitive way to engage with computers, and AI enhances that experience by providing intelligence and context. “AI is the brain, XR is the eyes and ears,” he explained. Together, they create a powerful synergy where AI understands the real-world environment captured by XR, allowing for more seamless and efficient workflows.
He illustrated this with a real-world example: a technician working on an airplane. “If I’m looking at a wing, it’s inefficient to stop and describe it manually—it’s a struggle. But with AI and XR combined, I can simply look at the part and say, ‘Hey, help me fix this.’” XR captures the technician’s field of view, while AI interprets the context and pulls from enterprise training data to provide precise guidance on repairs.
“When implemented correctly, AI and XR offer massive productivity gains—especially for enterprise use cases,” Brunner emphasized. “And it’s not just my opinion. Our customers are extremely excited about it, particularly when they can leverage their existing enterprise data to drive real-world solutions.”
Pushing the boundaries of spatial technology
Sphere’s ultimate goal is to create a spatial AI agent that acts as a real-time work assistant. Brunner illustrated this with the example of an aerospace technician performing complex maintenance tasks on an aircraft. With Sphere connected to a large language model (LLM) or an AI trained on company-specific data, the technician can simply look at a part and ask the AI agent what needs to be done. The agent instantly retrieves the last maintenance report and taps into the company's entire knowledge base, providing context-aware, real-time guidance.
Unlike traditional AI assistants, Sphere’s AI leverages spatial feedback, making interactions far more intuitive. The AI doesn’t just respond with text—it visually highlights, circles, and points to specific parts in the technician’s physical environment, offering step-by-step instructions. This seamless, back-and-forth communication between AI, spatial data, and the real world transforms how complex tasks are executed, making work faster, more accurate, and highly efficient.
Niantic Spatial Platform empowers companies to embrace the future
Niantic’s partnership with Sphere enhances Sphere’s spatial technology by integrating 3D scanning and localization capabilities, allowing users to seamlessly and automatically enter shared spatial environments. Enterprises already leverage Sphere’s spatial collaboration platform to connect technicians and subject matter experts, whether they are in the field or the office. As XR, AI, and spatial technologies continue to converge, new and more advanced enterprise use cases will emerge. Companies that train their own AI models and build databases of 3D-scanned equipment using Niantic’s Spatial Platform will gain a competitive edge, positioning themselves at the forefront of spatial computing and AI-driven collaboration.