Pokémon Go’s history of being used to collect data is well documented, with the AR scans people generate while playing the game being used to build AI-powered map models. Though players had to opt into the feature, many have expressed discomfort with the use of the monster-taming game’s in-app features to collect such data, and that discomfort has escalated as it has come out that Niantic Spatial, the separate company that owns all the original scans following developer Niantic’s acquisition by the Saudi-owned Scopely, entered into an agreement with Vantor, a provider of spatial intelligence that seeks to “deliver a comprehensive positioning solution that will enable air and ground platforms to navigate and coordinate precisely in GPS-denied environments.”
The original announcement said this partnership was part of an effort to solve issues of “GPS unavailability, spoofing, interference, and jamming” in drone piloting, using Niantic Spatial’s on-the-ground data and Vantor’s aerial data, aligning both for a shared, coordinated system that would allow any sensor to determine its position even as signals are jammed or otherwise blocked. The idea is that drones will be able to share coordinates with a ground-level pilot even without a GPS signal.
Vantor has previously worked with defense and intelligence industries, and so the possible military application of technology that could be used to pilot drones, even when signals are jammed, is enough to make Pokémon Go fans wonder if the pictures they took of PokéStops could be used to assist in drone strikes. Vantor has denied that Pokémon Go data was used in creation of the model, and Niantic Spatial has said that those Go scans were part of an “early version” of its own navigation model.
Trouw and Volkskrant’s reports on the matter, translated and compiled by DroneXL, assert that “a U.S. defense contractor [Vantor] is preparing to put” the navigation model created with the help of the roughly 30 billion scans players have created while playing Pokémon Go “into drones and other military robots.” The reports have been going on viral on social media, so we reached out to Niantic Spatial for clarity on the situation, and the company released two statements claiming that the Pokémon Go data is not part of its agreement with Vantor, and that Pokémon Go’s data is not shared with Niantic Spatial since the company was spun off following the Scopely acquisition.
“Now as part of Scopely, Pokémon GO data is not shared with Niantic Spatial,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Kotaku. “AR Scans collected through Pokémon GO were submitted voluntarily by players who opted into the feature and were subject to the applicable Terms of Service and Privacy Policy at the time. The discontinuation of AR scanning and the end of data sharing with Niantic Spatial were part of the transition planning associated with Pokémon GO‘s move to Scopely.”
In a separate statement, the company also explained its scanning and models, while also reiterating that Pokémon Go as it exists right now is not sharing data with Niantic Spatial.
While we have an agreement with Vantor, announced last December, it is still in its very early stages, and sharing this data is not part of the agreement.
For more background on scanning and our models: Ground scans were one component to help train Niantic Spatial’s real-world foundation models – AI systems that learn to recognize and interpret physical spaces. The models are the product of that training, not a copy of or a means of accessing the underlying scans, which were of public points of interest such as statues and fountains.
These models are being used across a range of sectors to help AI understand and navigate the physical world. Now as part of Scopely, Pokémon GO data is not shared with Niantic Spatial.
Whether you feel any better about Niantic, now a subsidiary of Saudi-government-owned Scopely, taking data from the game, is another story.
