Niantic VPS (Visual Positioning System) is a cloud service that enables applications to localize a user’s device at real-world locations, letting users interact with persistent AR content and powering new immersive experiences. VPS determines the device’s position and orientation (pose) by referencing Niantic Map data that exists in Niantic’s cloud. Niantic has created a giant 3D map of the world, stored in the cloud. When you use an app or web experience with VPS, your device compares what it sees through the camera to this map. This allows it to pinpoint your exact location and enables you to place virtual objects in the real world and they'll stay put, even if you move around or close the app or experience.

Niantic's map is our third-generation, 3D map that enables machines to determine their precise position and orientation in the world. It consists of many petabytes of geospatial data that are used by Niantic VPS to precisely orient (localize) users in their physical space. VPS uses computer vision algorithms to compare the scene in front of the user’s camera to location data stored in Niantic Map. This is the glue that binds the physical world to the digital world, making highly immersive location-based AR possible and enhancing the ability of computer vision and AI systems to understand the world. 

When a device makes a call to the VPS service, the service receives a query image from the user’s device along with their rough location (from GPS) as inputs and attempts to localize them using the map data that exist at that location on Niantic Map. When localization is successful, then the service returns the device’s position and orientation (pose) corresponding with the timestamp of the image that was transmitted.

World Pose is a proprietary client-side visual odometry feature that greatly enhances the absolute accuracy of localization compared to a conventional GPS + IMU solution. It does this by using computer vision to update and refine position and location estimates using the camera. The result is greatly improved continuous localization in areas where VPS is not yet supported or where there are gaps between VPS coverage.

AR scans from users, developers, and surveyors are the fundamental ingredient that Niantic uses to build Niantic Map. AR scans are recorded and uploaded using Niantic’s AR scanning framework, which is a module used inside Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Scaniverse. Each AR scan consists of a series of video frames with supporting data from accelerometers, gyroscopes, and GPS sensors that construct a 3D model of the world from multiple 2D images. Niantic uses a deep learning AI system to build the maps, meshes and splats which make up the Niantic Map and power the Niantic VPS.

Niantic VPS is available at more than 1 million VPS-activated locations on Niantic Map. We continue to add new locations to Niantic Map, and developers can scan their own locations using Scaniverse. To see the latest list of Niantic VPS-activated locations, view the VPS Coverage Map in the developer portal.

There are multiple ways to expand coverage of the Niantic Map, either the public shared map or a private map through our enterprise offering. Individuals and organizations can add new areas by scanning them using Scaniverse and then activating them for the VPS through our developer portal. Niantic can also scan and activate large areas on demand through our mapping service. For private maps, please contact our business team.

Today, you can use Niantic VPS through the Niantic’s Computer Vision SDK for Unity to create new or enhance existing Unity apps, and through Niantic Studio to create VPS-enabled experiences for the web that work directly within the browser on mobile devices and headsets.

Niantic VPS runs on multiple mobile OSs and devices, and has the same device requirements as those needed for contextual awareness in Niantic SDK for Unity. See specific guidance in our documentation.

VPS usage is billed based on monthly VPS calls to the localization server. Your first 25,000 calls are free. Detailed information on pricing can be found here.

You can find more detail on using Niantic VPS with Unity here and with our Web tools here. You can also contact our business team for more information about enterprise solutions and private maps.