Niantic Used Pokemon Go Players To Create Real-World AI Navigation Model

For the past eight years, Pokemon Go players have helped make Niantic’s game one of the top titles in mobile gaming. Apparently, players have also been helping Niantic create a 3D model of the world, which is being expanded via AI into a Large Geospatial Model.

As reported by 404 Media, Niantic made the largely unnoticed announcement earlier this month. These plans have seemingly been in the works for a long time, and the company states that it is attempting to “help computers perceive, comprehend, and navigate the physical world.” It also compares Large Geospatial Models to the Large Language Models used by OpenAI’s GPT, Grok, and others.

Because Pokemon Go players are able to visit locations that cars can’t access, they’ve given Niantic views of buildings and areas that other models haven’t been able to see until now. Niantic explained that only the fronts of buildings have been identifiable from previous models, but the Large Geospatial Models can teach computers how to see and identify the other sides of buildings on a global scale.

One way Pokemon Go players have unwittingly contributed to this is through the recently released Pokemon Playgrounds feature, which lets them leave behind a Pokemon at a specific spot that can be found by other players. Niantic states that 10 million locations have been scanned through that feature from around the world, and 1 million new scans arrive every week.

According to the map of the model on Niantic’s site, the company is far from mapping the entire globe. Most of the locations captured appear to be in North America and Europe, while Africa, Australia, and a large portion of Asia remain uncaptured for now. South America also has a long way to go before it will be fully captured by Niantic’s AI model.

Outside of Pokemon Go, the franchise continues to thrive. This week, Pokemon Gold and Silver is getting a line of 25th- anniversary merchandise. Meanwhile, Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, one of the franchise’s other mobile games, attracted 30 million downloads in its first week alone. One of the next games in the series, Pokemon Legends Z-A, will be released in 2025.