Many Pokemon GO players around the world are currently mostly focused on staying engaged with the game through play-at-home events and taking advantage of the mobile AR game's generous temporary item bundles and increased spawn rates during the stay-at-home orders many countries and states are facing. That said, Niantic is still looking to the future and beginning to plan for ways to improve the AR aspect of the game going forward.
Although the AR feature is totally optional in Pokemon GO, with the rare exception for certain event tasks or catching particular photo-bombing Pokemon; Niantic is still very much interested in developing and improving the AR features of all of its core games (Ingress, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Pokemon GO). With that in mind, the company is starting to roll out new features that will recruit players to help gather additional data about the points of interest on the game's map.
When constructing a compelling AR experience, it's obviously helpful for the developers to know as much about the real world points of interest as possible. Although the phone's camera is going to tell the game a lot about the 3D space in real time, if the devs know more about the location ahead of time, they may be able to plan more interactive and interesting experiences that are tailor made for specific locations.
With that in mind, there is a very interesting new section of code in the latest Pokemon GO datamine that points to a new Pokestop scanning feature. As always, keep in mind that datamined code is subject to change or be removed and is not a guarantee about the future of the game.
The Pokestop scanning code is very interesting and suggests that Niantic may soon start recruiting PoGO players to scan Pokestops and other POIs around the map to help build up Niantic's resources and, hopefully, help players earn some cool badges along the way.
For a closer look at what was discovered, check out the source code itself...
RESOURCE ID: titan_settings_title_ar_data
TEXT: PokéStop Scan
RESOURCE ID: poi_contrib_entry_ar_data
TEXT: SCAN POKÉSTOP
RESOURCE ID: poi_contrib_remaining_arvideo_multiple
TEXT: {0} PokéStop scans remaining
RESOURCE ID: poi_contrib_remaining_arvideo_one
TEXT: 1 PokéStop scan remaining
RESOURCE ID: titan_poi_ar_data_settings_menu_tip
TEXT: (Settings menu > PokéStop Scan)
The code goes on quite a bit longer with additional language adding functionality to enable or disable the feature, a tutorial for Pokestop scanning, the process for scanning, uploading code, and warnings about how to use the feature safely.
To figure out what this really means for Pokemon GO and its players, the community can look to Ingress for some context. A very similar feature rolled out to Ingress players in late February and it seems likely that PoGO trainers should expect a very similar experience in the near future. The tool looks very cool and it's exciting to see some of the 3D models that the Ingress devs have been able to construct with help from the user-submitted assets.
"Ingress Agents are explorers with a keen eye for detail and boundless curiosity to learn more about the world around us. With the latest Ingress update to start rolling out today, we’re calling upon interested Agents who would like to help us continue our research of the Portal network with an opt-in update to the Portal Edit options.
Our team is working to generate dynamic 3-D maps of existing Portals so we can build future augmented reality (AR) features that feel more grounded and real. Portal Scanning is an opt-in feature that allows Level 16 and recursed Agents in the US to upload Portal Scans that contain the following information:
recorded images and lighting conditions
time and location of the Portal Scan
how the mobile device moved during the Portal Scan
mobile device and camera specs
Please note that Portal Scans are automatically anonymized once they’re uploaded to our secure servers, and no Portal Scan information is tied to specific Agent accounts. For more info, please read our Help Center article or our privacy policy.
Multiple Portal Scans can be taken at each Portal, and can help our team of researchers with different camera angles and positions. To help you keep note of your Portal research progress, successfully uploaded and approved Portal Scans will count towards a new Scout medal:
Bronze: 50 Portal Scans
Silver: 250
Gold: 1,000
Platinum: 3,000
Onyx: 6,000
Similar to our multiphased app releases, which release to more Agents over time, we’ll also open Portal Scanning to more Agents, Access Levels, and countries as soon as we’re able.
Finally, we also plan to host non-competitive, cross-faction photo walk events to meet with Agents, answer questions, and demonstrate how to upload high-quality Portal Scans. More details on these photo walks are coming soon, so stay tuned."
Although the assets that are being collected likely won't have any immediate use in Pokemon GO, it is very exciting to see what Niantic is clearly still dedicated to improving and enhancing AR functionality going forward. After the company has enough time to gather information about some of the game's biggest and most popular POIs, it wouldn't be surprising to see some kind of special geo-specific AR event that put the assets to use for players at a particular in-person event like a Safari Zone or something similar.
For now, players will have to continue to imagine the possibilities as the tool eventually is rolled out and the developers continue working on whatever is next for the ever-changing mobile AR game experience.
At this point, players may want to keep hunting down the best Unova Pokemon in the game if improving their Battle Raid rosters is their primary goal. Be sure to check back in the near future for more Pokemon GO strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!
Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.