Bing Maps Augmented-Reality Demo on TED

In a demo that drew gasps at TED2010, Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos new augmented-reality mapping technology from Microsoft. He is the architect of Bing Maps at Microsoft, building augmented reality into searchable maps. He's also the co-creator of Photosynth, software that assembles static photos into a synergy of zoomable, navigatable spaces.

Eric Schmidt @ Google I/O 2009: It's Time

In his Google I/O keynote Eric Schmidt said that it is just the beginning for the new computing model enabled by cloud computing, the open web and mobile devices. As the CEO of Google he has defined Web 3.0 in 2007. Now it is time for make it happen!



"It is the beginning of the real win of cloud computing, of the real win of applications, of the real win of the Internet which is changing the computing paradigm ... so it just works. And it works no matter what device you're using, no matter what operating system you're using... That is the promise of our new web computing model."

Google I/O is a developer gathering focused on pushing the boundaries of web applications using Google and open web technologies. Google engineers and web development leaders will lead you through two days full of in-depth breakout sessions on the latest technologies, and informal Q&A at Fireside Chats. The sessions include topics about AJAX and Data APIs, Clients, Google Web ToolKit (GWT), App Engine, Enterprise, Mobile and Social applications.

Interesting Google I/O sessions:

• Building Applications in the Clouds
• Building Scalable Geo Applications
• Adding Interactive 3D Content to your Site
• Mastering the Android Media Framework
• Google and the Social Web
• Building Advanced 3D Geographical Applications for the Web with the GoogleEarth API

There is great innovation happening at Google! Check out the Google Code Channel on YouTube for more insight.

Virtual Cocoon Helmet to Mimic All Five Senses in Virtual Worlds

We rely on our senses to interact with the world around us. Do we actually need to travel to be somewhere to experience it fully? The “…towards Real Virtuality” EPSRC Research Cluster" project aims to develop a "virtual cocoon" through which people can interact naturally with the world without actually traveling or being put in that particular, potentially dangerous, real situation. All five senses will be stimulated to provide a rich sensory "real virtuality" experience.


The virtual cocoon will revolutionize the way in which we do business by providing low-cost, high confidence, high quality multi-sensory knowledge directly to your current location. This will significantly change, for example, purchasing via the internet because you could smell the flowers, feel the fabric of a dress, try out a sofa for comfort, examine products in any desired lighting condition, etc, all before you buy them. The virtual cocoon could even be linked to, for example Google Earth, to enable you to investigate the ambiance of a restaurant on the other side of the world when you are planning your trip.


The Virtual Cocoon headset is a nice accessory for 3D immersive surfing of the metaverse. It is a great gadget for gaming, entertainment and virtual tourism. Too bad that it is somewhat expensive for now.

Earthmine is Indexing Reality into 3D Maps

Earthmine is a street-level, 3D mapping company that is focused on indexing reality. Their geospatial data mine of urban environments is an order of magnitude more detailed and accurate than anything before. Earthmine's new kind of map is a geospatially accurate model of the world that is accessed through an intuitive panoramic interface.

Google Maps Street View and Everyscape offers similar immersive visual experience. However every pixel in each high quality Earthmine image has highly accurate latitude, longitude and elevation data. This provides a unique three-dimensional context to existing spatial data not offered by others.

Check out this amazing Earthmine demo video:



Earthmine has vehicles with a calibrated camera array, collecting highly accurate and detailed data at the street level using technology licensed from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This data is processed into a form that is deliverable over the internet as a subscription service to their customer base. Their highly scalable data collection and processing technology is highly scalable allows entire municipalities to be captured in weeks.

Earthmine will offer the first street-level geospatial platform for urban environments in early 2008. Their framework includes

• a pre-collected base data layer of 3D panoramic images tagged with 3D location data
• a set of web-based professional tools to gather, analyze and visualize street-level location-based information

This geo-spatial framework will integrate into any web application, act as the foundation for layers of geo-tagged meta-data, and connect with existing systems and applications.

Street View in Google Maps

Google Maps introduced Street View using Immersive Media. This amazing feature lets you have a look around and even move along the streets. Check it out here.

How cool this could be in Google Earth in 3D? O'Reilly Radar has a nice overview.