Vancouver-based Spexi Geospatial has announced a strategic partnership with Niantic Spatial to turn drone imagery into large-scale 3D intelligence for physical AI.
The partnership brings together Spexi’s next-generation aerial data network with Niantic Spatial’s reconstruction technology, giving customers access to Niantic Spatial’s 3D modeling pipeline through its Reconstruction API.
Customers will be able to commission drone captures and receive high-fidelity, geometrically accurate 3D reconstructions in the form of 3D Gaussian splats. The reconstructions will be accessible through a Niantic Spatial Viewer and measurement tool embedded within the Spexi World platform.
Because the models are geo-referenced with coordinates, they can also be dropped into maps of large areas, supporting use cases such as infrastructure inspection, insurance risk assessment, energy site analysis, asset management, and 3D measurement.
Spexi has also been selected as a preferred drone imagery provider for training Niantic Spatial’s real-world foundation models for physical AI. The companies say the collaboration expands coverage to city-scale data and beyond, using metric-scale 3D reconstructions that stitch together multiple drone scans of real-world spaces.
“For physical AI to work in the real world, it needs a foundation grounded in reality,” said Inhi Cho Suh, CEO of Niantic Spatial. “Combining Spexi’s capture network with our reconstruction technology and real-world models gets us significantly closer to that and delivers real operational value for our customers.”
“Until now, high-quality 3D reconstruction has largely operated at the scale of an object or building,” Suh added. “This partnership takes it to city scale and more.”
Spexi operates an aerial data network that has attracted more than 10,000 drone pilots and mapped over six million acres at 2.8 cm resolution, which the company says is ten times sharper than satellite imagery. Its autonomous and standardized flight protocols are optimized for machine learning.
Niantic Spatial’s reconstruction pipeline has been calibrated to Spexi’s capture workflows, which the companies say ensures every flight yields maximum quality output.
“Together, Spexi and Niantic Spatial deliver a drone-to-3D pipeline that will redefine the next generation of physical AI, unlocking more accurate, up-to-date, and immersive representations of the built environment,” said Bill Lakeland, CEO of Spexi.
“Partnering with Niantic Spatial means customers can now go from raw imagery to actionable 3D intelligence in one seamless workflow,” Lakeland added. “That’s a step change in what drone data can achieve for real-world applications.”
Founded in Vancouver, Spexi is building a global network of drone pilots to deliver ultra-high-resolution aerial imagery for applications including disaster preparedness, smart city planning, infrastructure inspection, resource monitoring, gaming, and AI.
The company has raised USD $20.5 million from investors including Blockchange Ventures, FJ Labs, Protocol Labs, Moonshots Capital, and Alliance.
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