Naver Labs Corp., research and development subsidiary of South Korea’s Internet services provider Naver Corp., will acquire 100 percent stake in domestic three-dimensional (3D) developer Epipolar in a bid to enhance its competitiveness in 3D maps, according to the company on Monday. Naver Labs did not disclose financial terms.

Established in 2015 by the development team of the nation’s largest mobile platform operator Kakao Corp., Epipolar gained industry spotlight for developing the first domestic 3D spatial information system using WebGL, the standard for rendering 3D graphics on the web.

The startup also developed image search technology which provides points-of-interest (POI) information by displaying a picture taken by users on the display unit.

Demand for 3D mapping would increase in parallel with the transition to automated vehicle and applications of augmented reality technology.

Naver Labs is now better equipped to produce indoor maps and virtual reality (VR), AR and 3D contents with this acquisition, an official from the company said.

By Oh Chan-jong

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