How Atlas Obscura plans to embrace the 3D web

This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter connected the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated conscionable for The Verge subscribers erstwhile a week.

Atlas Obscura has been crowdsourcing unusual and awesome places from each astir the world since its founding successful 2009. To date, the site’s users and editorial unit person collected and curated articles and photos for complete 32,000 specified places, ranging from abandoned taxable parks to hidden beaches to Japan’s Cat Island. Atlas Obscura’s organization has created complete 93 cardinal lists passim the years, and the institution has been releasing books and podcasts to further item the obscure and visit-worthy.

Of course, galore of the listed places are simply retired of scope for astir people. “The premise of the institution was to make exploration disposable to everybody,” says Atlas Obscura’s main contented officer, Doug Baldinger. That includes group who can’t spend costly world travel. When user VR first emerged a decade ago, its expertise to carrier group to faraway places seemed a cleanable solution for escapade seekers incapable to sojourn them successful person. “We [wanted] to show group that you tin person entree to these things wherever you are,” he says.

Alas, the tech wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. Aiming for maximum exposure, Atlas Obscura stake connected affordable headsets for illustration Samsung’s Gear VR and Meta’s Oculus Go, only to quickly recognize that those devices came pinch monolithic limitations. Without six degrees of freedom, visiting a spot successful VR didn’t really consciousness for illustration being there. Plus, astir of those early headsets ended up catching dust, pinch disillusioned consumers giving up connected them aft a fewer weeks.

“The transportation level wasn’t really up to what we wanted to do pinch it,” recalls Nathan Anderson, whose New Canvas workplace has been helping Atlas Obscura pinch its immersive media efforts.

Atlas Obscura gave VR different changeable past twelvemonth by re-releasing its app pinch remastered contented on Meta’s Quest, and successful caller weeks besides brought it to Android XR and Steam. Now, the institution is getting fresh to bring immersive experiences to anyone nary matter what instrumentality they’re using. In early 2026, Atlas Obscura plans to motorboat a WebXR-based societal 3D acquisition called the Obscura Society.

The Obscura Society will beryllium a virtual lounge that Atlas Obscura organization members tin sojourn to bent retired pinch the thief of 3D avatars, person sound chats, and research places from the site’s monolithic catalog together. There will besides beryllium a bartender serving up virtual drinks and factoids astir real-world destinations, and group utilizing headsets will beryllium capable to usage portals that straight return them into the Atlas Obscura VR apps.

The Obscura Society will beryllium powered by HTC’s Viverse platform, and Baldinger freely admits that he wasn’t each that acquainted pinch it erstwhile New Canvas first projected the collaboration. However, Viverse yet won retired complete competing metaverse platforms for illustration Meta’s Horizon Worlds aliases VRChat because it has a little obstruction of entry. “It’s astir accessibility,” Anderson says. “Even connected Horizon Worlds, you still request to person an relationship to log in.”

Viverse not only useful without an account, it tin beryllium straight embedded into the Atlas Obscura website, allowing organization members to hop from an article aliases a podcast into the virtual lounge pinch aliases without a VR headset. “The immense mostly of group will beryllium coming successful done desktop and mobile, we expect,” Anderson says.

HTC’s level already sees astir adjacent usage from desktop, mobile, and VR users, according to Viverse caput of maturation Andranik Aslanyan, whose institution contributed to the backing for the Obscura Society done its creator funds. “We’re wholly device-agnostic,” he says, adding that this extends to immersive hardware. “There’s much Meta headset users that usage our level than HTC [Vive headset] users.”

Viverse already hosts complete 23,000 3D worlds, but Aslanyan prefers to not telephone it a metaverse. “We conscionable mostly debar the connection since it has this connotation that it’s 1 wide world,” he says. Instead, spaces for illustration the Obscura Society usability arsenic abstracted 3D web entities, which Aslanyan likens to YouTube subordinate embeds. “We want to get arsenic adjacent arsenic we tin to video consumption,” he says.

New Canvas envisions lounges for illustration the Obscura Society arsenic a caller shape of 3rd places successful the metaverse. Places that aren’t explicitly games, but gathering grounds for like-minded people. “Often, you conscionable want to meet pinch group and conscionable bent retired pinch them,” Anderson says. Places that tin beryllium low-stakes introduction points into virtual worlds, while besides offering portals to full-blown VR experiences for group who want to spell deeper.

The Obscura Society is besides betting connected AI, which allows the bartender to propulsion nuggets from Atlas Obscura’s immense knowledge base. That’s not without risk: AI is simply a spot of a constituent of contention for Atlas Obscura these days.

The institution down the tract precocious faced staff and scholar pushback complete the CEO’s plans to merge AI into Atlas Obscura, arsenic good arsenic important unit reductions. “There’s a batch of sensitivity astir it successful position of really we are handling production,” says Baldinger. “We spot it arsenic an lawsuit of AI that could really thief foster quality connection.”