Niantic acquires 6D.ai to help map out the entire world for AR

Niantic has acquired 6D.ai, a move meant to further the Pokemon Go-maker’s goals of developing a robust, developer friendly augmented reality platform and enabling planet-scale AR experiences.

This latest acquisition lands Niantic in control of a company well versed in the spatial mapping of environments for use and reconstruction in AR, and its wealth of research on augmented reality as a whole. Together, the two are working to create a dynamic 3D map of the world to aid with those aforementioned planet-scale AR goals, and continue to expand augmented reality as a whole.

For 6D.ai’s founders, the deal means their teams will have more access to resources and reach as the two collaborate on new AR developments.

“We are extremely proud to join Niantic after three years of taking on the most difficult computer vision software problems so that AR experiences could realistically interact with the physical and digital worlds,” writes 6D.ai CEO Matt Miesnieks.

“Now joining Niantic will provide us more reach, strengthen our resources, and bring together some of the best minds in both AR software development and research. The combination of our teams is a major step for the AR industry as we get even closer toward building the 3D map of the world."

The deal makes for Niantic’s first acquisition in nearly a year, following last spring’s acquisition of augmented reality board game developer Sensible Object.