16 March 2022
16 March 2022

From Statues to Storefronts, Custom Landmarkers Offer a New Way to Tell AR Stories about the World Around Us

Today, we’re launching Custom Landmarkers in Lens Studio, letting creators anchor Lenses to local places they care about – from statues to storefronts – to tell richer stories about their communities through AR.

We’re dedicated to building technology that feels natural to use and seamlessly weaves into daily life. The way people communicate, live, and interact with the world is evolving through our Camera. 

We’re continually advancing the Snap AR platform so 250,000 Lens Creators can build the next generation of computing experiences that enhance the way we play, learn, explore, and shop. 

The more our Camera understands spaces around us, the more creativity can be unlocked by our creator community, positively impacting the world we share. 

In 2019, we started with templates of 30 beloved sites around the world which creators could build upon called Landmarkers. This made it possible to anchor their AR creations to iconic structures, like the Gateway of India and Egypt’s Great Sphinx of Giza. The next step was to bring understanding to even larger areas, like entire city blocks and squares. With Local Lenses, which we introduced in 2020, Snapchatters were able to splash AR paint across the buildings of London’s Carnaby Street. Recently, we partnered with the UK’s Black Cultural Archives and Kugali Media to showcase the moments, figures, and stories of Black British history that lie behind Trafalgar Square. 

But there’s an infinite number of places for our AR creator community to build anchored, location-based Lenses – ranging from experiences that are entertaining, educational, or can even help businesses grow.  

Today, we’re launching Custom Landmarkers in Lens Studio, letting creators anchor Lenses to local places they care about – from statues to storefronts – to tell richer stories about their communities through AR. 

A Custom Landmarker Lens overlaid on Yu & Me Books, built by Lens Creator team Qreal

As we continue to evolve our augmented reality platform, we want to ensure the experiences creators make ultimately support the wellbeing of our community and improve the ways they relate to the world around them. 

This means we’ll thoughtfully surface and moderate AR content on our platform, as we do with all content. Custom Landmarkers are discoverable through physical Snapcodes at the landmark, or on a Lens Creator’s profile. Our moderation team approves all Lenses before they’re publicly accessible to ensure that they comply with our Community and Lens Submission Guidelines

We can’t wait for our Lens Creator community to tell stories about the places they care about through Custom Landmarkers. 

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