Niantic goes industrial

A digital twin is a live virtual copy of a real asset, and Niantic Spatial is now taking that technology into Southeast Asia’s maritime industry through a partnership with Singapore-based OculloSpace announced April 22. (prnewswire.com) OculloSpace said it will offer digital twin services for ships and maritime environments that mirror real-world conditions in near real time. The system pulls in data from onboard Internet of Things sensors so operators can monitor a vessel’s performance, condition, and behavior without stopping operations. (prnewswire.com) The companies said the platform works at centimeter-level precision and is aimed at shipyards, fleet operators, and port authorities. OculloSpace said the software can be used for predictive maintenance, operational optimization, and scenario testing before changes are made in the real world. (smartmaritimenetwork.com) That is a different market from the one most people associate with Niantic. In March 2025, Niantic said Scopely would acquire Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom, and Monster Hunter Now for $3.5 billion while Niantic spun off its geospatial artificial intelligence business as Niantic Spatial. (nianticlabs.com) Niantic Spatial now describes itself as an independent artificial intelligence company serving robotics, energy, construction, logistics, large venues, and the public sector. On its site, it says it builds high-fidelity 3D models and positioning systems for places where Global Positioning System signals are weak or unavailable. (nianticspatial.com) The basic pitch is that ships, ports, and yards are hard to inspect from a single control room because conditions change constantly. A digital twin turns scans and sensor feeds into a shared 3D model so engineers can check equipment, test routes, or rehearse procedures on screen before acting on the dock or at sea. (nianticspatial.com) (prnewswire.com) Southeast Asia is a practical place to try that pitch. OculloSpace said maritime transport carries more than 80% of global trade and said the region sits on some of the world’s busiest shipping routes, giving shipyards, ports, and fleet operators a large base of potential customers. (prnewswire.com) Niantic has been preparing this enterprise push for years. In its earlier platform rollout, the company said its visual positioning system had reached 1 million production locations and was being packaged for business uses including planning, logistics, and remote collaboration. (nianticlabs.com) The maritime deal shows what that looks like after the Pokémon GO split: not animated creatures on a phone screen, but sensor-fed 3D models sold to industrial operators. If OculloSpace can turn Niantic’s mapping stack into day-to-day port and vessel software, Niantic Spatial gets a clearer test of whether its geospatial tools can stand on their own as infrastructure. (nianticlabs.com) (smartmaritimenetwork.com)