Niantic launches an augmented reality platform for the Metaverse. The new platform, called Niantic Lightship, is already licensing its technology to build web applications for the Metaverse that Meta has been developing. Niantic has created successful augmented reality games such as Pokémon Go, Ingress, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, among others. While the Metaverse is built on virtual reality, this will be a tool based on augmented reality. The company, on its website, expresses its motivation to support people who venture into creating virtual content and experiences around the real world. “As part of our long-term vision for Lightship ARDK, we are building a 3D map of the world using our Visual Positioning System (VPS) and advanced tools to power a whole new type of contextual content on a global scale to understand the world where you are right now,” the company states. The organization has allocated $20 million to a program that rewards the most creative proposals for the company, aiming to motivate developers to delve into creating content based on augmented reality and the future Metaverse. Lightship is already available for free to developers, although it will include some specific paid options.