Many use Pokémon GO as a pastime: But Niantic has built a network behind the data that is sometimes more accurate than the normal GPS signal. A robotic delivery service is already using this network to deliver products.
For many, Pokémon GO is a nice pastime when you are already out and about. In the process, you constantly share location data and occasionally take a few photos for the app.
However, Pokémon GO is much more than “just” an app for leisure. Niantic, the company behind it, uses the data to build a network of precise location data. In the USA, they are working with a delivery service to utilize the data. Because Niantic’s data is sometimes more accurate than conventional GPS signals. This is especially true for densely built areas and cities with many skyscrapers.
Niantic Spatial can determine your location with almost centimeter-level accuracy
How does Niantic do this? Niantic Spatial has built a so-called large geodata model over the years. This model has been trained with over 30 billion images sourced from players. The special thing about it is that Niantic can determine the location of individuals with an accuracy of a few centimeters because they possess thousands of images of locations, all taken at different times of day, under varying weather conditions, and from different angles. This is explained by Brian McClendon, CTO at Niantic Spatial (via technologyreview.com):
We had over a million locations worldwide where we can precisely determine your location. We know where you are with an accuracy of a few centimeters, and most importantly, where you are looking.
In addition, there are location data indicating how accurately the phone was held, positioned, and moved at that moment.
The company has utilized this precise dataset to train a model that can accurately predict where it is based on what it sees. Even in locations outside of these millions of hotspots, where good sources for image and location data are rarer.
Delivery services use Niantic’s data because it is more accurate than GPS data
Who is using this data now? The company Coco Robotics deploys around 1,000 robots in Los Angeles, Chicago, Jersey City, Miami, and Helsinki to handle food or other deliveries. Regardless of the weather conditions.
However, the problem is that the GPS signal is often too inaccurate in city centers. Because the signal is reflected by buildings. In densely built areas or cities with many skyscrapers, this quickly becomes a problem. McClendon from Niantic states:
The urban canyon is the worst place in the world for GPS. When you look at the blue dot on your phone, you often see it drifting 50 meters, which puts you in a different block in the wrong direction on the wrong side of the street.
At this point, Niantic Spatial comes into play: Niantic Spatial provides particularly precise and accurate location data that thousands of users have previously collected using Pokémon GO. More or less, you are “responsible” for the delivery service being able to deliver its pizza on time because you shared your location and image data with Niantic.
What Pokémon GO and its data can achieve in everyday life is also shown by another example: A woman had lost her husband in the supermarket. Thanks to Pokémon GO, she was able to quickly find her husband in the store: “I felt like a genius”: Woman uses Pokémon GO to find her missing husband in the supermarket
