The present disclosure provides systems and methods that allow a first user to anchor a virtual object to a physical location and a second user to view the virtual object at the physical location. In particular, aspects of the present disclosure are directed to workflows, application programming interfaces (“APIs”), and computing system infrastructure that enable a first computing device to generate an ad hoc mapping of its physical surroundings (e.g., based on sensor data collected by the first device) and to position and anchor a virtual object at a physical location within such mapping. Data descriptive of the mapping and virtual object can be stored in a cloud database and can then be used by or for a second device to render the virtual object at the location of the anchor.