Like technologies such as facial recognition, granular spatial data might be used in order to dominate, oppress and discipline populations, and particularly the most marginalised in society. We have examined this potential in detail in a recent report on the ethical implications of emerging mixed reality technologies. “by virtue of the way they operate, augmented reality systems must simultaneously act as very sophisticated surveillance systems”.Įver-growing unregulated collection of spatial data across the globe has the potential to create powerful systems of surveillance, control, and influence. Keiichi Matsuda’s short film Hyper-Reality envisions an augmented reality future.Īs the Australian futurist Mark Pesce has argued This is well exemplified in LiveMaps, a technology demonstrated by Facebook’s Andrew Bosworth at the 2016 Oculus Connect developer conference. The next iPhone is rumored to have a powerful LiDAR scanner to create more detailed 3D scans, and better support Apple’s AR ecosystem.įacebook acquired the virtual reality (VR) company Oculus in 2014 for USD$2.3 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg frames success with VR as being key to the company’s AR ambitions. Having a system that can recognise 3D environments around the world makes it easier for developers to make shared AR experiences and environments that “exist” even when the user logs off.Īpple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google are all developing AR products that are likely to depend on a technique called simultaneous localisation and mapping or SLAM to continuously scan – and collect data about – the users’s physical environment. The 3D scans Pokémon Go players are collecting are intended to create new possibilities in the game, but they will also give Niantic’s platform for AR developers an advantage over competitors. In December 2019, Niantic raised funds at a valuation of USD$3.9 billion.Įxplainer: what is surveillance capitalism and how does it shape our economy? Tech companies and investors think this kind of data is immensely valuable. Niantic’s latest game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, collects each player’s location every five seconds or so, which is often enough to recognise individual behaviour patterns and detect intimate details of their life. These portals became the underlying infrastructure that powers Pokémon Go and other games, but just as valuable was the data collected about how players moved around the world while playing. Screenshots of the Ingress Portal Scan Feature, via Niantic.

In 2012 Niantic launched a game called Ingress, which saw players photograph and upload millions of locations of interest that became “portals” within the game. It stayed part of Google until 2015, when it became an independent company again. In 2010, Keyhole was rebranded as Niantic and focused on games. Keyhole Inc was acquired by Google in 2004, and was instrumental the development of Google Maps.

The company developed mapping technologies used by the US military in the early 2000s. Niantic was initially formed as Keyhole Inc by John Hanke in 2001 with backing from the CIA’s tech venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel. One reason for Niantic’s huge success has been how it uses digital games to collect data about the world. These scans, and this type of data collection, will likely affect all of us in the near future. In February, Facebook acquired Scape Technologies, an AR start-up that was creating a 3D map of the entire world, and Microsoft’s Minecraft Earth AR mobile game touts the same kind of planet-scale AR play.

Pokemon go live map resource sharing