Millions of ‘Pokemon Go’ players have gathered spatial data to catch Pokemon|@PokemonGoApp|X
A recent report by MIT Technology Review reveals that the millions of players who spent years scanning landmarks in Pokemon Go unknowingly helped build a mapping technology that is now guiding autonomous delivery robots.
The spatial data, gathered through phone cameras since 2016, powers the Visual Positioning System (VPS) of San Francisco-based Niantic Spatial. The company spun off from Niantic Inc. last year.
It has partnered with Sam Altman-backed Coco Robotics to navigate delivery machines through GPS-challenged urban environments. It offers food and retail deliveries through a robotic fleet in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Helsinki.
While Niantic emphasizes that all user scans were voluntary, the revelation has sparked a debate over whether millions of players were turned into an unpaid workforce by the game’s incentive design.