The latest on Augmented Reality games and technology!

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Niantic Lightship Augmented Reality Developer Kit now in Private Beta

Niantic is renaming its Real World Platform to Niantic Lightship! This platform was used in creating their popular games; Pokémon GO, Ingress and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

Niantic will also offer broader access to the new Niantic Lightship Augmented Reality Developer Kit (ARDK).

This kit allows developers to build their own immersive and creative Augmented Reality experiences with the same tools that power Niantic’s games.

Niantic aims to set the standard for mapping and shared, planetary-scale AR experiences.

The sign up page is currently live for Niantic Lightship if you are interested in AR development.

Some of the key features of the Niantic Lightship Augmented Reality developer kit include: real-time mapping, semantic segmentation and robust multiplayer functionality.

We’re committed to working with developers, brands and creators to build AR apps that reflect their unique goals and deliver value to their audiences. We’re here to be your partner and look forward to seeing what we build together.

The Niantic Lightship team

What sets ARDK apart from the alternatives is the meshing technology it uses. Niantic’s approach to meshing utilises the RGB sensors in most cameras. Rather than LiDAR scanners which are only in high-end devices.

This lets developers create games on a wider range of phones with Niantic Lightship as opposed to other AR development kits.

This ARDK seems to be part of a plan from Niantic to push Augmented Reality mainstream. We also know they are working on a head-mounted display too, which we’ve covered previously.

If you want to learn more about Niantic Lightship you can read about it on Niantic’s blog.

Niantic’s upcoming Pikmin game in partnership with Nintendo will also use the Niantic Lightship technology.

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