Over the Reality — Investment Memo (Nov 2024)

Overview

• OVR crowdsources 3D maps and enables collection, processing, and monetization. Users scan real‑world points‑of‑interest via OVR’s mobile app, earning ~$1 per verified scan. Designers create 3D assets and publish them to OVR’s NFT marketplace. Developers build AR/XR apps via a no‑code Web Builder or the Unity SDK; Ovr Labs monetizes enterprise services and brand campaigns.
• 3D maps form the spatial consensus layer underpinning AR/XR/VR. End‑user devices must localize precisely relative to the physical world. Visual positioning systems offer much higher precision than radio‑based methods but require up‑front mapping. Crypto‑incentives coordinate the creation of a global 3D map.
• Network scale in a bear market: Since launching map2earn in Jan ’23, the community mapped 20k POIs in year one and 80k in two years, growing double‑digits MoM. Niantic claims ~1m POIs on its spatial platform (170k via its developer portal). OVR is ~half the size of the largest web2 mapping network, with <600k $OVR emitted (0.6% of supply).
• Token at distressed levels: ~$10m market cap after rising 50× post‑launch (Dec ’20) then falling ~95% (‑50% YTD). Contributors earn a fixed amount (~$1) in $OVR for each successful scan (selling image rights to Ovr Labs). Land‑hex NFTs are auctioned for $OVR; 9M $OVR (~10% of supply) removed via auctions, though most was sold back to fund product development in ’22–’24.
• Restructuring token economics: Team commits to making $OVR holders first‑class via (1) revenue‑share: 30% of dataset revenues paid in OVR to NFT‑holders of used hexes; and (2) M&A contingency: acquirers of Ovr Lab’s 3D maps must pay the protocol in stablecoins (2× cumulative historical incentives) and grant the network grandfathered access for ≥2 years. Target: ~$1m ARR returned to Over NFT‑holders by year‑end 2025.

Key Stats

80k points‑of‑interest  |  400 daily new scans  |  40M images collected  |  24M m² mapped

Resources

• Website · Explorer · Apps: iOS / Android
• Docs: Whitepaper · Wiki · Blog
• Builder & SDK: Web Builder · Unity SDK
• Marketplace (3D assets): Models · Lands: Primary Auctions

Technology

Full‑stack platforms: Niantic and Ovr both combine first‑party 3D map datasets, upload tools, no‑code builders, SDKs, and in‑browser AR rendering (iOS/Android).

Coverage & quality: Niantic claims ~170k locations accessible via SDK vs ~80k for Ovr. Anecdotally, Ovr’s map quality appears better in >80% of overlapping locations. Example demos include a store in Amsterdam, a plaza in Honolulu, and an intersection in Dublin.

Geospatial foundation models: Niantic announced plans to train a large geospatial model using PokemonGo + Scaniverse data and benchmarked open‑source models. Ovr has an opportunity to build a stronger model leveraging its dataset and open‑source AI networks like Bittensor and Akash.

Try the Demos

• Marketplace example (Dublin)
• Marketplace example (Amsterdam)
• Marketplace example (Honolulu)
• Niantic Lightship demo

Model & Benchmarks

• Niantic: Large Geospatial Model
• MapFree Reloc Benchmark

Additional Reading

• Why OVR’s VPS Outperforms GPS
• OVR’s AR Catwalk in Milan
• Niantic Acquires Scaniverse (TechCrunch)
• Forbes: Pokemon Go Players Train AI Models
• Cointelegraph: Map2Earn
• ScienceDirect: Visual Positioning Systems