Niantic Spatial SDK Adds Outdoor VPS & Long-Distance Live Meshing To Quest 3
Niantic Latest SDK Adds Outdoor VPS & Long-Distance Live Meshing To Quest 3
Niantic’s New SDK v3.15 now supports Quest 3 and Quest 3S. The toolkit delivers advanced mixed reality features—centimeter-accurate outdoor VPS, long-distance live scene meshing, and real-time semantic segmentation—enabled by Meta allowing third-party Horizon OS apps to access Quest 3/3S passthrough cameras, which Niantic uses to run computer-vision models refined over roughly a decade.
Background: Niantic Sells Pokémon For Transition
Five months after a major restructuring, Niantic—best known for Pokémon Go—effectively split in two. The Niantic Games business, including Pokémon Go, was sold to Saudi Arabia’s Scopely, while the new technology side was spun out as a new company called Niantic Spatial.
Centimeter-Accurate VPS
GPS typically offers ~1 m accuracy in ideal conditions and can degrade to many meters in dense cities. A Visual Positioning System (VPS) uses computer vision to match live camera views to a high-fidelity 3D map, delivering centimeter-level localization where sufficient dense geometry has been mapped. Google Maps has offered a VPS-style feature for on-foot navigation using Street View data, and similar capability is available to smartphone developers via ARCore. Niantic’s VPS now supports Quest 3, Quest 3S, and Magic Leap 2. Its map spans 1 million+ locations built from player scans (e.g., Pokémon Go, Scaniverse), claims “industry-leading accuracy,” and provides 3D meshes for scanned public places.
Pricing: first 10,000 VPS API calls/month are free; thereafter ~$0.01 per call. Only one call per session is needed to localize the player.
Live Scene Meshing
Quest 3/3S can scan rooms to generate a 3D scene mesh for occlusion, collision, and reskinning, but current Meta flows require an upfront scan and capture only a moment in time—changes later aren’t reflected unless the user rescans. Earlier, Lasertag developer Julian Triveri achieved continuous meshing on Quest 3/3S via Meta’s Depth API, open-sourced on GitHub and slated for Hauntify, but Depth API range is ~4 m. Niantic latest innovation enables long-distance live meshing using Niantic’s own algorithms, building meshes from passthrough camera views. This is better suited to outdoor use and pairs naturally with VPS.
Semantic Segmentation & Object Detection
Niantic new Tech can identify and label objects and surfaces in real time. Object recognition is similar to Quest passthrough-access samples, while the segmentation appears more advanced.
Pricing & What’s Next
VPS is billed per API call; on-device computer-vision features are unlimited but require ~$0.10 per monthly active user (MAU). Expect broad adoption of live meshing in Quest 3 apps, and VPS makes Quest 3 more viable for outdoor public experiences, though the hardware isn’t designed for that. Niantic is expanding support across additional headworn devices, improving performance, and introducing features like enhanced occlusion and persistent scene understanding—guided by developer feedback.
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About Niantic
Niantic is an AR company known for location-based games that blend digital and physical worlds. Founded in 2010 by John Hanke as Niantic Labs at Google, it spun out as an independent company in 2015. Niantic created Ingress, which pioneered global, map-driven gameplay, and Pokémon Go, a cultural phenomenon that scaled real-world AR worldwide. The company also launched Pikmin Bloom with Nintendo and supports creators through Lightship, a cross-platform AR stack with mapping, multiplayer, and visual positioning.
In 2022 it acquired 8th Wall to expand WebAR and introduced Campfire, a social app for coordinating real-world play. Beyond games, Niantic invests in computer vision and geospatial technologies such as scanning, semantic segmentation, and VPS to anchor digital content outdoors with high accuracy. Its platform powers partner experiences for brands and developers seeking persistent, shared AR. Headquartered in San Francisco, Niantic operates globally with teams across North America, Europe, and Asia today.
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