Pokemon Go maker Niantic plans to build AR maps with users’ help

File Photo: John Hanke, creator of Pokemon Go and Chief Executive Officer of Niantic gestures during his keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Paul Hanna

SAN FRANCISCO: Niantic Inc, which developed hit mobile game Pokemon Go, plans to map the world in 3D with its players' help, its chief executive told Reuters, establishing the startup as a frontrunner in a new facet of digital mapping.

What the company describes as an “AR map” is viewed as crucial to advanced augmented reality apps. But how to efficiently collect and process data for it has been a vexing problem that Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple Inc and dozens of startups also have been trying to solve.