The big change towards web 3.0, web 4.0 & 3D virtualization (and what it needs)
Moving towards complete 3D virtualization & interaction in realistic web 3.0 environments
3D is hot! If you follow the latest trends online, you will notice more and more discussions about 3D hardware (TV sets, mobile phones) and (web)software.
Yet, this is only about seeing objects in 3D, something that by itself is very cool. But imagine that we can combine that also with information we use in our business daily in a virtual world. Imagine a Google Maps environment where you can participate by walking around, meeting other people, also within buildings. 3D virtualization combined with webservices is 'the missing link' in answering the question: 'who does what WHERE?' We don't want just services with GPS coordinates, we need precise mapping of services, people and objects in 3D (so also: 'up en down')!
Let me give you an explanation what I mean because I can already tell that this can be very confusing.
Imagine a building on a Google map. Being able to 'see' it from all sides, we get a 3D impression of what it looks like in 'streetview'. Yet the information layer on top of that map is still 2D. In that building there can be a large number of different offices on different floors, representing a large multitude of services and people.
In a fully 3D virtual business environment you would like to have have that information in real time as well. After all, what's the point of meeting someone in a virtual world, inside a building on the wrong floor, or don't get a realistic impression of the company / person you are visiting?
Building a realistic web 3.0
We already had web 3.0 worlds that never became mainstream, such as Second Life e.g. They where just to 'gamish' for business use. Second Life started 5 years ago as a great effort. But now we know what people really want: a visualization & mashup of the real world with online information to add to real business or personal value.
One step back in order to take one step forward
Maps aren't exactly virtual worlds yet, but they will become over time starting with projects such as Google Life and LivePlace.com (video above).
Microsoft is doing a great job (for a change) with Bing maps, taking a step forward to that goal by taking one step back. They added the infrastructure to get this kind of information to their maps (Bing Maps beta):
As you can see from the second image, Bing maps will take 'maps' inside as well. But how does it get there? Sure we can make pictures and videos of the inside of a building, but is there a more precise way to measure where everything is?
I think it is time to get a closer look at a laser scanning technology for scanning and mapping roads and buildings (outside) that most people probably haven't heard of and think about it's usefulness for measuring and scanning people and working spaces (inside).
Last week I was at a meeting in Utrecht about GIS (Geo Information Systems) Services and one of the first pieces of hardware that struck me was a new kind of scanner that used a pair of 2 360 degree laser scanners, a very precise speedometer, a normal video camera and an angle measurement sensor on a car to generate a precise field of 600.000 'points' in space per second of scanned objects.' You can imagine that such a stream of 'points' generates a low resolution 3D map by itself. It was also shown that such information could well be used to recreate an environment very precisely in a virtual world.
Such technologies (in a more compact form) can also be used to scan the insides of offices and to scan people.
This rough data, combined with photo material gives all the data you need for business realistic 3D web visualization which can be used in web 3.0 (virtual worlds) and web 4.0 environments (holographic interaction).
What's more, by scanning yourself you could use that data to create a realistic 'avatar' to explore a virtual world. That has one big advantage: you will look very much like yourself in the virtual world (not like the 'gamish' avatars).
You can also use that data for holographic purposes without having to resort to streaming large quantities of video data of yourself over the internet (as seen in the video at the bottom) instead you just 'manage' your 3D avatar. A holographic meeting e.g. that will be held this way will use a lot less data, bandwidth and computing power than a conventional high resolution video-conference, making the step to such encounters much more technical feasible and cheaper.
So I am looking forward to see new services based upon this technology soon generating new opportunities in working and meeting online in a way that adds Value. Anything you are doing in real life can be done realistically online, it will just take time and the input of us all. Liveplace is planning something like this soon:
3D is hot! If you follow the latest trends online, you will notice more and more discussions about 3D hardware (TV sets, mobile phones) and (web)software.
Yet, this is only about seeing objects in 3D, something that by itself is very cool. But imagine that we can combine that also with information we use in our business daily in a virtual world. Imagine a Google Maps environment where you can participate by walking around, meeting other people, also within buildings. 3D virtualization combined with webservices is 'the missing link' in answering the question: 'who does what WHERE?' We don't want just services with GPS coordinates, we need precise mapping of services, people and objects in 3D (so also: 'up en down')!
Let me give you an explanation what I mean because I can already tell that this can be very confusing.
Imagine a building on a Google map. Being able to 'see' it from all sides, we get a 3D impression of what it looks like in 'streetview'. Yet the information layer on top of that map is still 2D. In that building there can be a large number of different offices on different floors, representing a large multitude of services and people.
In a fully 3D virtual business environment you would like to have have that information in real time as well. After all, what's the point of meeting someone in a virtual world, inside a building on the wrong floor, or don't get a realistic impression of the company / person you are visiting?
Building a realistic web 3.0
We already had web 3.0 worlds that never became mainstream, such as Second Life e.g. They where just to 'gamish' for business use. Second Life started 5 years ago as a great effort. But now we know what people really want: a visualization & mashup of the real world with online information to add to real business or personal value.
One step back in order to take one step forward
Maps aren't exactly virtual worlds yet, but they will become over time starting with projects such as Google Life and LivePlace.com (video above).
Microsoft is doing a great job (for a change) with Bing maps, taking a step forward to that goal by taking one step back. They added the infrastructure to get this kind of information to their maps (Bing Maps beta):
As you can see from the second image, Bing maps will take 'maps' inside as well. But how does it get there? Sure we can make pictures and videos of the inside of a building, but is there a more precise way to measure where everything is?
I think it is time to get a closer look at a laser scanning technology for scanning and mapping roads and buildings (outside) that most people probably haven't heard of and think about it's usefulness for measuring and scanning people and working spaces (inside).
Last week I was at a meeting in Utrecht about GIS (Geo Information Systems) Services and one of the first pieces of hardware that struck me was a new kind of scanner that used a pair of 2 360 degree laser scanners, a very precise speedometer, a normal video camera and an angle measurement sensor on a car to generate a precise field of 600.000 'points' in space per second of scanned objects.' You can imagine that such a stream of 'points' generates a low resolution 3D map by itself. It was also shown that such information could well be used to recreate an environment very precisely in a virtual world.
Such technologies (in a more compact form) can also be used to scan the insides of offices and to scan people.
This rough data, combined with photo material gives all the data you need for business realistic 3D web visualization which can be used in web 3.0 (virtual worlds) and web 4.0 environments (holographic interaction).
What's more, by scanning yourself you could use that data to create a realistic 'avatar' to explore a virtual world. That has one big advantage: you will look very much like yourself in the virtual world (not like the 'gamish' avatars).
You can also use that data for holographic purposes without having to resort to streaming large quantities of video data of yourself over the internet (as seen in the video at the bottom) instead you just 'manage' your 3D avatar. A holographic meeting e.g. that will be held this way will use a lot less data, bandwidth and computing power than a conventional high resolution video-conference, making the step to such encounters much more technical feasible and cheaper.
So I am looking forward to see new services based upon this technology soon generating new opportunities in working and meeting online in a way that adds Value. Anything you are doing in real life can be done realistically online, it will just take time and the input of us all. Liveplace is planning something like this soon:
Tags: 3.0, 3d, 4.0, Bing, Microsoft, avatar, google, google-life, hologram, holographic, More…
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ray van den Bel on
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Update: The US Military is also conducting tests with backpacks containing laser sensors that can be carried indoors in order to make 3d maps of an interior: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/10/3d_mapping_backpack/
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