3D INTERNET

ABSTRACT

The 3D Internet is a powerful new way for you to reach consumers, business customers, co-workers, partners, and students. It combines the immediacy of television, the versatile content of the Web, and the relationship-building strengths of social networking sites like Face book . Yet unlike the passive experience of television, the 3D Internet is inherently interactive and engaging. Virtual worlds provide immersive 3D experiences that replicate (and in some cases exceed) real life. 

People who take part in virtual worlds stay online longer with a heightened level of interest. To take advantage of that interest, diverse businesses and organizations have claimed an early stake in this fast-growing market. They include technology leaders such as IBM, Microsoft, and Cisco, companies such as BMW, Toyota , Circuit City , Coca Cola, and Calvin Klein, and scores of universities, including Harvard, Stanford and Penn State .

INTRODUCTION

The success of 3D communities and mapping applications, combined with the falling costs of producing 3D environments, are leading some analysts to predict that a dramatic shift is taking place in the way people see and navigate the Internet. 

The appeal of 3D worlds to consumers and vendors lies in the level of immersion that the programs offer. The experience of interacting with another character in a 3D environment, as opposed to a screen name or a flat image, adds new appeal to the act of socializing on the Internet. Advertisements in Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D mapping application are placed as billboards and signs on top of buildings, blending in with the application's urban landscapes. 

3D INTERNET

3D worlds also hold benefits beyond simple social interactions. Companies that specialize in interior design or furniture showrooms, where users want to view entire rooms from a variety of angles and perspectives, will be able to offer customized models through users' homePCs . 

Google representatives report that the company Google is preparing a new revolutionary product called Google Goggles, an interactive visor that will present Internet content in three dimensions. Apparently the recent rumors of a Google phone refers to a product that is much more innovative than the recent Apple iPhone. 

PURPOSE OR NEED

One of the often heard arguments against the 3D Internet is in the form of the question “why do we need it?” For most of its users the Internet is a familiar, comfortable medium where we communicate with each other, get our news, shop, pay our bills, and more. We are indeed so much used to and dependant on its existence that we don’t think about its nature anymore just like we do not think about Ohm’s law when we turn on the lights. From this perspective what we have, i.e. the 2D version, seems “sufficient” and the 3D Internet is yet another fad. However, if we stop and think about the nature of the Internet for a moment we realize that it is nothing but a virtual environment (cyberspace) where people and organizations interact with each other and exchange information. Once this fact is well understood, the question can be turned on its head and becomes “why do we restrict ourselves to 2D pages and hyperlinks for all these activities?”

Navigating hierarchical data structures is often cumbersome for large data sets. Unfortunately, the Internet as we know is organized as a flat abstract mesh of interconnected hierarchical documents. A typical 2D website is an extremely abstract entity and consists of nothing but a bunch of documents and pictures. Within the website, at every level of the interaction, the developers have to provide the user immediate navigational help. Otherwise, the user would get lost sooner or later. Since this is a very abstract environment, there is no straightforward way of providing a navigation scheme which would be immediately recognizable to human beings. The situation is not any better when traveling between websites. Although the domain name system is somewhat helpful, using the web today is no different than reading a telephone directory. Given the current situation the term web surfing is rather appropriate as we have no control over where the web takes us with the next click. This has profound implications such as the reliance on back button in browsers which tantamount to admitting that navigating on the web is no different from a random walk. Another consequence is the emergence of search engines as a fundamental element of the Internet. It is no surprise that Google is the most powerful Internet Company of our times.

            There is actually a much better alternative way of organizing data which everybody knows and uses. We spend all our lives in a 3D world navigating between places and organizing objects spatially. We rarely need search engines to find what we are looking for and our brains are naturally adept at remembering spatial relationships. Let us consider the following fictitious scenario on the 3D Internet. Instead of a flat 2D desktop I can put my documents on my desk

at home, where documents, desk, and home are ”virtual” entities that are 3D representations of real-world counterparts with spatial relationships. Later, when the need of finding these documents arises, there is a high probability that I can easily remember their location without resorting to additional processes such as search engines or a “recent documents” folder.

Obviously, it is very difficult -if not impossible- to realize this scenario on the current Internet. We are there like 2D creatures living on flat documents not knowing where we are or what is next to us. We teleport constantly from one flat surface to another, each time getting lost, each time asking for directions or help. In contrast, the ease of use and intuitiveness of 3D GUIs are an immediate consequence of the way our brains work, a result of a long evolutionary process ensuring adaptation to our world. Although the 3D Internet is not a solution to all problems, it provides an HCI framework that can decrease mental load and open doors to rich, innovative interface designs through spatial relationships. Another important point is the Web place metaphore of the 3D Internet which enables interaction between people in a natural way. In this sense, the 3D Internet can be seen as a natural successor of Web 2.0.

The metaverses such as SL can be considered as pioneering precursors of the 3D Internet. Yet, they already indicate its significant business opportunities. Not only existing online businesses would benefit from the inherent interactive nature and spatial HCI paradigms of the 3D Internet but also a whole range of businesses such as fashion, real estate, and tourism can finally start using the Internet effectively. We expect that the possibility of providing faithful 3D representations of products and services will have revolutionary effects on online business to business and business to customer commercial activity. From virtual “try before buy” to “interactive shopping” the commercial potential of the 3D Internet is enormous.