Turning places into intelligent interfaces with VPS

This post is part of our Ground Truth series exploring the future of AI and the physical world.

At this year’s AWE conference, we wanted to do more than just tell people about Niantic Spatial — we wanted them to step into it.

This wasn’t just a demo — it was a proof of concept for the kind of spatial UX we believe should be the new standard, one based on technology that understands the real world and anchors digital content to it. The portal combined visual storytelling, live geospatial tech, and mobile accessibility in a way that made people stop and , explore, and imagine new possibilities.

So we built a location-powered AR portal: an immersive, browser-based experience anchored to the entrance of our booth. As attendees arrived, they could raise their phones to reveal a virtual showroom, anchored in physical space.

Behind the Portal: How We Built It

The portal was developed entirely in 8th Wall, using Scaniverse and Niantic VPS to anchor content with centimeter-level precision. Our goal was to make the experience both high-fidelity and easily accessible — no app download and no special hardware.

Tools and a Simple 5-Step Workflow

• We used the Scaniverse app to capture the booth environment in a few minutes.

• From there, we created a VPS scan to leverage Niantic Spatial’s Visual Positioning System (VPS). VPS works by matching the live camera view from your device to the scanned 3D map of the environment, instantly determining your exact position and orientation with centimeter-level accuracy.

• 8th Wall provided a rapid, in-browser development environment with seamless VPS integration, used to feature our three core enterprise solutions.

• Using our geospatial browser, we connected the experience to that location, enabling instant localization and spatial anchoring.

• The full scene was under 10MB, optimized for quick, mobile-friendly access.

Why It Worked

Even in a crowded expo hall, VPS tracking remained stable and responsive. The lightweight build ensured a quick, frictionless experience, while spatial anchoring made the content feel grounded and intuitive.

What could have been a complex setup became a quick, reliable activation — and a persistent, shared AR experience that worked seamlessly in the real world.

What’s Next

We see this kind of AR portal as a blueprint for spatial storytelling at scale — from product launches to enterprise training to location-based brand activations.

If you're building real-world AR experiences and want to anchor content to place with confidence, reach out to our team.

This version runs with SLAM tracking, so it works anywhere — no VPS localization needed.