Pokémon Go Built a Secret 3D Map of the World (But They're Not The Only One)

Pokémon Go players scanned thirty billion images and 20 million locations over the last decade. Niantic just licensed that spatial data to train delivery robots, and the internet lost it. I interviewed Niantic's CTO Brian McClendon (co-creator of Google Earth) on the TED AI Show, and what he told me paints a very different picture than the headlines. This video breaks down what Niantic Spatial is actually building, what other much more invasive data sets exist, and every company mapping physical reality right now, from your doorstep to orbit. Chapters 0:00 - Pokémon Go built a secret 3D map 1:14 - What Niantic actually built 3:22 - Visual positioning and the Large Geospatial Model 4:49 - Every company mapping reality right now 7:50 - How they incentivize data collection 8:25 - The map as a side effect 9:21 - Why staying current changes everything 11:27 - Outro Links - MIT Technology Review: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/10/1134099/how-pokemon-go-is-helping-robots-deliver-pizza-on-time/ - TED AI Show — Brian McClendon interview: https://www.ted.com/pages/pokemon-go-and-augmented-reality-w-brian-mcclendon-transcript - Niantic Spatial: https://www.nianticspatial.com - Coco Delivery Robotics: https://www.cocodelivery.com - Planet Labs (daily satellite imaging): https://www.planet.com - ICEYE (SAR satellite imagery): https://www.iceye.com - Flock Safety: https://www.flocksafety.com - Hivemapper: https://hivemapper.com - Mapillary: https://www.mapillary.com - Strava Global Heatmap: https://www.strava.com/maps/global-heatmap - Rainbolt (GeoGuessr): https://www.youtube.com/@georainbolt -- Subscribe for more in-depth AI & creative tech videos! 👉 ‪@bilawalsidhu‬ Join My Newsletter: https://spatialintelligence.ai Connect with me on X/Twitter here: https://x.com/bilawalsidhu Everywhere else here: https://bilawal.ai Business inquiries: [email protected] Bio: Bilawal Sidhu is a creator, engineer, and product builder obsessed with blending reality and imagination using art and science. Bilawal is the technology curator for TED Talks, and a venture scout for Andreessen Horowitz. With more than a decade of experience in the tech industry, he spent six years as a product manager at Google, where he worked on spatial computing and 3D maps. His work has been featured in major publications including Bloomberg, Forbes, BBC, CNBC, and Fortune, among others. Bilawal’s journey into computer graphics began at 11, when he fell in love with seamlessly blending 3D into real life footage. Since then, he's captivated over 1.5M subscribers, garnering more than 500M+ views across his platforms. Driven by a mission to empower the next generation of artists and entrepreneurs, Bilawal openly shares AI-assisted workflows and industry insights on social media. When he’s not working, you can find Bilawal expanding his collection of electric guitars. TED: https://www.ted.com/speakers/bilawal_sidhu