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What is the Snapchat landmarker technology?

What is the Snapchat landmarker technology?

Snapchat’s landmarker technology uses augmented reality to transform famous landmarks and buildings into interactive 3D experiences. It allows users to overlay lenses, filters, badges, snippets, links, music, and more onto real world locations.

How does Snapchat’s landmarker technology work?

The landmarker technology uses Snapchat’s augmented reality and computer vision capabilities. When a user points their camera at a supported landmark, Snapchat can recognize the landmark and anchor the augmented reality effects to it. This gives the illusion that the effects are part of the real world environment.

Some of the technical capabilities involved include:

  • Image recognition – Snapchat has trained its computer vision models on millions of images of popular landmarks to recognize them.
  • 3D mapping – The technology maps out the real world environment in 3D, allowing effects to conform to the landmarks.
  • SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) – This spatial computing technique allows the camera to map its environment and track its location within it.
  • AR overlays – Complex digital overlays like 3D objects, animations, and information panels are seamlessly anchored to the landmarks.

By combining these capabilities, Snapchat can understand where the landmark is, map its geometry, and anchor effects to the right places to create an immersive augmented reality experience.

What landmarks are supported?

As of October 2023, Snapchat supports over 150,000 Landmarkers across 30 countries. Some of the major landmarks enabled include:

Country Supported Landmarks
USA Statue of Liberty, Space Needle, Las Vegas Sign, Hollywood Sign, Golden Gate Bridge
France Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe
UK Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham Palace
Italy Colosseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, St. Mark’s Basilica
India Taj Mahal, Gateway of India, India Gate

Snapchat is constantly expanding its landmark database by mapping more locations around the world. Users can also submit suggestions for new landmarks they want to see supported.

What can you do with landmarkers?

There are endless creative possibilities with Snapchat’s landmarker AR effects. Here are some examples of what you can do:

  • Overlay lenses and filters like wearing historical costumes at monuments or adding celebratory effects at famous sites.
  • Pin contextual snippets with history and facts about landmarks.
  • Add 3D animations and characters that interact with the environment.
  • Create interactive AR games, scavenger hunts, and puzzles anchored to landmarks.
  • Check-in badges, achievement trophies, and shared statuses at locations.
  • Add directional audio guides, narration, and music integrated into the space.
  • Launch related AR experiences, portals, and secret levels.

These types of effects create a magical experience where the digital world blends into the real. Landmark events, holidays, and other celebrations are perfect opportunities to create fun landmarker effects.

Statue of Liberty Landmarkers

Here are some examples of landmarker lenses that can be overlaid on the Statue of Liberty:

  • Wear historical American outfits like Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty.
  • Add celebratory July 4th fireworks and sparklers.
  • Overlay the statue with iconic American symbols and designs.
  • Show fun facts and historical snippets about Lady Liberty.
  • Add a flaming torch visual effect into Lady Liberty’s real torch.
  • Launch a mini-game of catching American flags or presidential icons.

Eiffel Tower Landmarkers

And here are some cool landmarker possibilities for the Eiffel Tower:

  • Wear French beret hats, mustaches, and other Parisian fashions.
  • Add sparkling lights, fireworks, or laser shows on the tower.
  • Overlay the tower with French artwork, flags, and symbols.
  • Show snippets about the tower’s design, construction, and history.
  • Launch a scavenger hunt for French historical figures or artifacts.
  • Add romantic music and other celebratory effects for New Year’s Eve.

How are landmarkers created and managed?

Snapchat has an internal team that handles mapping landmarks and developing experiences using them. Here is an overview of their process:

  1. Mapping – Snapchat send mapping teams to physically visit and scan locations using special camera equipment. This captures real world geometry and textures.
  2. Modeling – The visual data is used to recreate 3D models of the landmarks. Details like texture, lighting, and physics are added to make them realistic.
  3. Recognition – Machine learning algorithms are trained on millions of images to recognize and detect each landmark.
  4. Anchoring – The 3D models are anchored to the right positions so effects can be overlaid accurately.
  5. Effects – Snapchat’s creative team designs fun AR effects tailored for each landmark.
  6. Updates – Landmarks are continually updated as new experiences are added. Recognition is also improved over time.

Snapchat uses tools like CAD software, 3D modeling engines, AR development kits, machine learning frameworks, and computer vision pipelines to power this backend pipeline.

For particularly famous landmarks, Snapchat may send teams on-site to get highly detailed scans. But many smaller landmarks can simply be mapped using image data. The recognition algorithms are robust enough to anchor basic effects against photos in many cases.

Community contributions

Snapchat also allows the community to submit their own landmarker suggestions through the “My Place” feature in Lens Studio. Users can upload 360 imagery to map a place they want to see turned into a landmarker.

Snapchat reviewers verify each submission and convert select locations into Landmarkers. This helps expand the landmark database to cover more obscure, niche, and personal places around the world.

What is the future of landmarker AR?

Landmarker technology has huge potential as augmented reality evolves. Here are some possible directions for the future:

  • More landmarks – Expanding to millions of landmarks will make landmarker AR ubiquitous worldwide.
  • Multiplayer AR – Shared experiences where multiple people interact with the same AR landmarks and effects.
  • Persistent AR – Landmarker effects that remain pinned for extended periods rather than brief snapshots.
  • AI generation – Using AI to procedurally generate endless landmark effects and experiences.
  • Domain-specific AR – Tailored landmarkers for venues like restaurants, shops, parks, and other businesses.
  • AR reconstruction – Recreating demolished or lost landmarks as interactive AR experiences.

As AR hardware improves with smarter glasses and contact lenses, landmarkers could become seamlessly overlaid onto our environments. The technology will help anchor virtual content into the physical world around us.

Conclusion

Snapchat’s landmarker technology bridges the real and digital worlds through augmented reality. It taps into our innate desire to engage with the famous places and spaces around us in new interactive ways. As AR evolves, landmarkers have the potential to become persistent virtual layers that expand our realities. For now, they provide delightful and whimsical snapshot experiences to share with friends and family. Landmarker AR shows the beginnings of an exciting augmented future where the physical landscape merges with boundless virtual possibility.