Niantic Launches Lightship Maps for Web for 8th Wall Platform

ith Lightship Maps for Web, 8th Wall developers now have access to the same technology Niantic has used to power popular games such as Pokémon GO. The introduction of this Maps for Web technology opens up a whole new playground for developers, agencies and advertisers to enhance their marketing campaigns with location-based AR experiences that truly embody Niantic's vision for the Real-world Metaverse.

The WebAR Map System

Lightship Maps gives brands, agencies and developers real-world data to enable the development of location-based WebXR experiences. As an example, the technology unlocks features for experiences like scavenger hunts and tours to highlight multiple points of interest for users to navigate and travel to. Additionally, Maps can be used to create content that displays a 3D character on a map, follows a user's GPS location, transforms a city into a game or teleports users to any location in the world.
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The 8th Wall integration enables Lightship Maps for Web to be deployed quickly using the Cloud Editor, and so gives users the control over the look and feel of their experience map. Settings like map perspective, camera view, sky effects and map theming can all be customized depending on the use-case.

VPS & Maps for Web

Of course, with the recent launch of Niantic's Lightship VPS for Web, the combination of these two technologies gives rise to the possibilities of location-based experiences on a global scale. Niantic's vision has always been the proliferation of the 'Real-world Metaverse', and these two tech updates certainly drive them closer to that goal.

The VPS for Web announcement was highly anticipated, and the demo projects launched from 8th Wall's Beta program were exciting to see. This project developed by 8th Wall Premier Partner, Aircards, was a two-player VPS powered mini-game which challenges players to shoot coconuts at targets, with the 3D coconuts interacting with the real-world!

It's examples like this that really show where the technology is headed, and shows that Niantic's vision of the Real-world Metaverse might not be as far away as some sceptics might think. You can learn more about the Toucan Play This game VPS demo project over on the 8th Wall website.