Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, 360 Panoramic imaging
Immersive visualisation is a game changer for the geospatial industry and is enabling clients to get far more value from site and office data. The recent change is that immersive tools have been made accessible because they no longer always require high end specialised kit or training to use. The ability is there to engage a wider variety of stakeholders beyond the usual design team by stepping into VR, viewing sites in 360 panoramic video or simply inspecting 3D models without complex CAD software; simple to use and easy to understand.
In a world where we need to cut carbon emissions, visualisation techniques allow decision makers to ‘be there virtually’. Ask our project managers to build 360 images and video into the job specifications and consider using this data for safety briefings, access discussions or planning decisions.
Types of Visualisation
Visualisation typically falls into three categories: virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and immersive panoramic imaging.
Virtual reality (VR) is a fully immersive, where users wear head mounted displays that close their vision off from the outside world. We use the Oculus Quest system, which has embedded sensors to scan a room and enables ‘virtual fences’ to be placed to stop users bumping into the actual physical world. These sensors allow give the system six degrees of freedom (6DOF) where your virtual body is free to move forward/ backwards, up/down, left/ right combined with rotation about three perpendicular axes, often termed pitch, yaw, and roll. Older VR experiences only allowed you to look around 360 degrees from a fixed point whereas 6DoF allows someone to walk around in a virtual space.
Augmented reality (AR) overlays 3D data on a real world scene and is accessed through a smartphone, tablet, head mounted glasses or helmet like Microsoft Hololens. The AR view allows users to move screens around like a moving window on the virtual world; this can be scaled down to view models on a boardroom table or projected life size into a scene. Devices like the iPhone 12 also actively scan a room and enable AR occlusion – if a person walks in front of the 3D object in AR, then they appear to do the same on the AR device.
360 Panoramic images & video do not require 3D modelling and can be viewed online or in immersive VR headsets. This can be a very cost effective tool to enable a simple URL web link sent in an email or viewed on a web page and can be anything from a single image to pan 360 around to a virtual tour or a fully 3D Matterport tour. When using 360 content in VR, ‘gaze control’ enables users to stare for a second at a floating icon to jump into the next 360 image scene. Want a tour around Machu Picchu from the comfort of your living room – its simple in Oculus Quest VR, just as it is in Google street view on your mobile.
After a deeper dive into visualisation tech, you can explore Mixed Reality (MR) and online interactive WebVR and WebAR. Need to know more? Then call the Severn Partnership team to discuss adding value through Visualisation to your project.