The story was broken by Daniel Terdiman of CNET: Google tools to power virtual worlds. The news is really pretty simple, though it has far-reaching potential consequences. Multiverse (my employer, just to be clear about this) has created a tool that enables the use of SketchUp and Google Earth assets in a multi-user environment. But, to quote Jerry Paffendorf from the article:
"For Paffendorf, one of the most vocal proponents of a 3D massively multiplayer environment based on Google Earth and SketchUp information, Multiverse's innovation is nothing short of groundbreaking."
The first aspect of this that's exciting is the availabilty of a new creative tool for people to use. SketchUp is very easy to learn, and Google Earth has already a very large store of assets. All of this is now available for creating virtual worlds in Multiverse... a set of very powerful building blocks has just been made available for the average user.
But I think what Jerry's referring to is the ability of Google Earth to aggregate and present data in a virtual world - the way Google Earth assets are very powerful and flexible nodes of information... and incorporated into a virtual setting, this becomes a powerful new paradigm for presenting information, interacting with it, and interacting with others at the same time. It's the ability to pack a lot of information into our (virtual) environment, and sharing it with others in new ways... and these tools are all available to the general user. Who knows what new developments this will lead to?
Groundbreaking indeed!
Ron it's a good thing you are so active posting these days! I've been pretty much out of the loop. This is awesome news! Wow, I can't wait to talk to you about the implications.
Posted by: gamegrrrl | October 17, 2007 at 06:20 PM