Foundations for 3D Internet Revealed

The Center for Internet Excellence (CIE) announced results from the Chiru project, which focused on laying the groundwork for 3D Internet on mobile devices. The project found out that 3D presents significant opportunities to improve the way people interact with information, but moving to three dimensional services requires creating common metaphors and vocabulary. The Chiru (3D User eXperience for Mobile Network Virtual Environments) project is a joint research initiative between University of Oulu's Center for Internet Excellence (CIE), Nokia and Intel. The project also broke new ground, for example, on how data and services can be presented in a virtual space, and on creating design guidelines for 3D user interfaces.

The Center for Internet Excellence (CIE) announced results from the Chiru project, which focused on laying the groundwork for 3D Internet on mobile devices. The project found out that 3D presents significant opportunities to improve the way people interact with information, but moving to three dimensional services requires creating common metaphors and vocabulary. The Chiru (3D User eXperience for Mobile Network Virtual Environments) project is a joint research initiative between University of Oulu's Center for Internet Excellence (CIE), Nokia and Intel. The project also broke new ground, for example, on how data and services can be presented in a virtual space, and on creating design guidelines for 3D user interfaces.

3D Internet is a broad research field which covers 3D user interfaces, 3D virtual worlds, and 3D mixed reality, where networked information is mapped on real world objects.

"At CIE, our main focus is accelerating the deployment of 3D Internet services and applications. The most important question is to understand how people interact with three dimensional information and what do we need from technology to create a smooth and immersive user experience", said Mika Ylianttila, Director, CIE. "From the business perspective, the 3D Internet space is a huge opportunity and we are seeing more and more businesses and research being built around 3D Internet. The Oulu area has unique expertise and provides a living lab environment to test and develop 3D Internet technologies and services".

The Chiru project researched several fundamental questions about how people can interact with networked information through 3D and focused on two areas in particular: 3D User Interfaces & Experience and Networked 3D Virtual Environments. Among key research topics and results were:  

In order for 3D Internet to gain popularity, one of the key questions is to create common vocabulary: how people understand networked 3D spaces and what are the natural ways of interacting with information in a three dimensional space. To lay the groundwork for 3D Internet, the Chiru project created design guidelines for 3D user interfaces:

The Oulu region is quickly becoming the global hub for 3D Internet with several new research projects and fast paced startup companies in the area. Many of the technologies researched in the Chiru project build on the RealExtend Open Source 3D Internet platform originally developed in Oulu. Building on the successful Chiru project, the CIE will extend 3D Internet research with several new projects:

About Chiru: http://www.chiru.fi

 

About CIE:

Center for Internet Excellence, CIE, is an independent research center at the University of Oulu. CIE drives co-creation of next generation internet technologies, appliances and services. It aims to capture and create internet-driven growth opportunities by combining cutting-edge research innovations with agile new business creation processes. 3D Internet is one of CIE's main research areas. CIE was founded in 2009 by City of Oulu, Nokia, University of Oulu, VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, Oulu University of Applied Sciences and Technopolis. http://www.cie.fi