The digital story that surrounds you right now: Ingress
In our current Innovation Issue, we listed augmented reality gaming, and specifically Ingress, as an area with the potential to change the way brands approach their audiences. Here, mobile technology expert Lars Cosh-Ishii explains why the platform has such big implications.
Ingress merges the physical and digital worlds through large-scale gaming events
The Ingress platform by Niantic Labs, operating as a startup within Google, has managed to place a graphic skin over the physical world in multiple compelling ways: it’s dynamic, immersive and fun.
Founded in 2010 and led by John Hanke, who spent six-years building and running Google Earth and StreetView, the product opened for general release in December 2013. His team has secured a passionate global following and checks key boxes from user-generated content via mobile to location-based profile data capture and community engagement.
With over 8 million downloads reported as of late last year, the platform is clearly gaining traction. One might say this is where Second Life meets Real Life, and the canvas of potential is both infinite and relevant.
Perhaps as a result of living in Japan for many years, where the past and future are always present, it’s fairly obvious to me that Ingress will ultimately enable a turnkey solution—platform as a service—for clients to create their own branded portals. Actually, the next steps along that path seem well underway with the new Endgame project, based on a book by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton, the Ancient Societies universe. Expect amazing mixed-reality experiences ahead.