Good post.

A 3D model of the United States would allow drones to navigate at levels never before seen without having to understand the environment and/or without the need for an operator behind the joystick. We've seen it in video games with the opponent AI knowing everything about the world he's in, where he can go, what shortcuts he can take to get there, where the death traps are, and even a human player might not know this without exploring, mapping, memorizing, etc.

Pokemon is gathering data that would allow an AI to navigate almost anywhere on Earth that a human could go without even having to think. Extremely valuable data for the military to have.

Funny story, I actually invented the concept for Pokemon Go a long time ago, but the idea was packaged as a different franchise, same idea where you'd trek across the real planet Earth to find treasure, battle monsters and vanquish evil, through an augmented reality. Nintendo-CIA saw my idea on Reddit and stole it, that's the real conspiracy! But being an idea man where ideas are abundant, it doesn't bother me.

Very relevant:

Facebook can map more of Earth in a week than we have in history

The stated goal of Facebook’s data-science team is to build maps to help the social network plan how to deliver internet to people who are currently offline. It’s a dubious starting point, but whatever you think about Facebook’s internet colonialism, the company’s drones won’t be able to beam Wi-Fi to the disconnected until they know where they are.

and

The company says it has now improved the process to the point where it could do the same mapping in a few hours. Assuming it had the photographs, it could map Earth in about six days. That’s something that humanity still hasn’t managed to do.

So now you're starting to see why Pokemon Go is a big deal. And it's kind of strange how child labor, packaged as a rewarding experience, is being harnessed to gather the data. And it's not just children playing it. It's the perfect crowdsourced geospatial program.