Virtual Worlds and Civic Engagement

Right now I am embedded in the development of 3D cartography….interactive virtual worlds for community planning and development. Asset Tracking Anywhere’s Master Planning Tool for tracking assets is pushing the rules of the game; but the 3D component has changed the game.

My job right now is way too much fun, and I’m looking for partners who have a sense of vision and excitement about the future, who love technology and who want to engage their clients in an exciting adventure.  (And of course save them a crap load of money) I’m looking for companies that want to lead the way in using the virtual world to change the future of the real world.

The idea of developing 3D presentations for property development and marketing is not new in that 3D software is available for architects and graphic designers, urban planners, engineers and even the amateur home designer; however, what is new is the ability to build a virtual world where not only can you see what this new community looks like, but you can interact with it. You can enter it long before one chunk of soggy sod is turned.

If you’ve ever dropped into Second Life and flown around, had a few chats, bought some property and built a building and sold some items…you have a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about. But unlike Second Life which creates a model virtual world to work and play in, ATA’s 3D module is aimed at modelling a world and then helping to create the real world to work and play in.  A subtle difference

What I find absolutely fascinating about what we’ve been doing at Clover Point is the ability to enter the virtual world to get lost in playing in it. This is one of the unique aspects of this system in that it is so engaging to use, that getting staff to use it is less a problem then getting them to stop. That’s completely opposite of the general experience of software adoption. And I must admit have hung around in there quite a bit too…

One can fly, stop and look around and interact with the objects in the virtual world…objects by the way which have a one to one relationship with the real world in terms of their geo-coordinates. What does that mean? it means the world we create is an immerse, live 3D map of either a real world or one which does not yet exist, but is planned. Of course we could also create a geospatially synced historical version of a community as well with the power of augmented reality and live views of the current geo coordinates. Now that would be awesome. Fort Victoria virtually with live cam views of where that building or properrty is now!

In our world you can click on a building and bring up whatever relevant information the owners ave decided to supply like it’s coordinates, it’s age, what’s stored in the building in the real world, who works in the building, who owns it, and so forth..if it can be digitized it can be attached to the building. You can go under ground and look at the piping, the sewer systems. You can map the community infrastructure for maintenance and further planning processes. Maintenance schedules, security schedules, HR lists, compliance issues can trigger alerts, security cameras can show you both the virtual perspective and be pointing out in the real world.

You can walk into the building and turn the lights on or off, you can have furniture and machinery placed where you think it should go and then have people walk around to check the work flow - you can’t do any of this with a balsa wood model and most of it you can’t do with traditional architectural modeling software either - because on ATA’s system you can do this to a whole community and run it on a laptop…it’s very very cool.

The upshot of that coolness factor is that even when all the buildings are built in the real world, you can still use the virtual world for planning, security, building engineering, marketing, client engagement and many other things…the system doesn’t have to become obsolete like a balsa wood model or a 3d Studiomax fly through. Which means of course that the return on investment is much higher than other systems…. never mind powerful.

But all that aside, I believe there is a strong potential for the green building industry to embrace this technology to help promote their concepts, their designs and their visions in a way which will engage the general public, the municipalities and the stakeholders in a development process which can be more open and integral.

I would love to find a way to engage a municipality to create a virtual world for them using this tool to help the municipality promote more engagement in the democratic process and communal responsibility. How wonderful would it be to go to a town hall meeting via the virtual world through web cams and web conferencing, or to go to school or pay parking fines or interact with a city planner..or vote on public art pieces by selecting the pieces you like for a given space.

Traditional web sites enable people to pay parking tickets, get PDFs, see images and send email and text messages; but they don’t immerse someone in a virtual space and create the opportunity to enter a vision and to feel a part of a process. For people who are disabled this could be a life changing process of civic engagement. ATA’s 3D module creates the ability to move into a new world to interact and engage and participate in the future.

Here’s a quick video at one project we did. It’s just a canned fly through, but you’ll get the idea. The resolution isn’t as high as it could be, but you get the point!

Please comment below and thanks for indulging me.

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Tags: 3D software, amateur home designer, architectural modeling software, city planner, community infrastructure, machinery, sewer systems, software adoption, web cams, web conferencing