The expression “virtual reality” – though we have been using it since the 90s – according to my experience is not very widely understood among „the people of the street” who are simple computer users and have never heard about GIS (Geographical Information System) either. In other words, many people all over the world are keen to live another life by the help of the ever more sophisticated „toolkit” of multimedia. Psychological and social motives of this phenomenon should be discussed with the relevant scientists… Passion for gambling? Longing to leave the nasty real life, real world? Alienation and hatred to people? Wishing to escape? Perhaps, we are lazy or do not have enough spare time and try to find practical and quick electronic solutions of buying this and that, while sitting in the armchair at home? 

The expression “virtual reality” – though we have been using it since the 90s – according to my experience is not very widely understood among „the people of the street” who are simple computer users and have never heard about GIS (Geographical Information System) either. At the same time, in spite of this, for instance the website www.secondlife.com that was born and has been maintained in the spirit of virtual reality can be proud of having more than ten million registered visitors. (This is equal to the population of Hungary…)  In other words, many people all over the world are keen to live another life by the help of the ever more sophisticated „toolkit” of multimedia. Psychological and social motives of this phenomenon should be discussed with the relevant scientists… Passion for gambling? Longing to leave the nasty real life, real world? Alienation and hatred to people? Wishing to escape? Perhaps, we are lazy or do not have enough spare time and try to find practical and quick electronic solutions of buying this and that, while sitting in the armchair at home?

For detailed explanation of the expression itself, I turned to science. The definition of “virtual reality” I found in an article by Ákos Jakobi of Magyar Tudomány (Hungarian Science), November 2002:
„Virtual Reality (VR): „Unlike to the cyber space (….), virtual worlds have a well-defined narrower meaning on the web, but mostly on the internet. By the help of a 3D graphic presentation displayed on the screen, more exactly, by using the keyboard, one can walk up and down in a space within the computer. In the latest versions, one can wander around not only in one single computer programme, but – as a result of uniting the forces of several computers –, also in various imaginary worlds generated on the net. The term „world” is to be taken totally concrete. One has to imagine such a special space where there are streets, buildings, whole towns – and what is more important – also „living people” moving around who are manipulated by other persons sitting at other terminals in other points of the net,  in the farthest corners of the globe.” 

This last sentence generated an unpleasant thought: whether people living somewhere in a faraway place can have remote control over other „living” people (marionettes) through keyboard? From that moment, the expression virtual reality became a bit fearful, as it implied the very realistic opportunity of a wide-range, „globalized” manipulation…
 
The majority of various articles and presentations concerning virtual reality creates the bad feeling that mankind – or at least that group of people who are dealing systematically on high scientific level with GIS and its further development, together with the relevant technologies and instruments – is working hard to become one day completely controllable and manipulated on a level that is not desirable at all anymore… And this can be increased till the intrusion into the intimate sphere by using sensors of motion, pressure or heat in an intelligent space...

As an absurd scene, I imagined the future when people would be all sitting alone in front of their computers in their separated, windowless little cells full of cables and instruments, staring at the monitor and floating enchanted on the infinite waves of virtual world, searching for joy and special amusement on the net... It is not necessary to be healthy and strong anymore, it will be quite enough to do so, if you can see and at least one finger of your hand works… Perhaps it happens in the not very far future that with few work on computers and using remote control, everything can be produced that people (marionettes?) need beyond these lifeless life. Big Brother will have already organized everything by that time. 

You say this is silly and impossible? But think of our children, teenagers and young adults stick on computers! Who will ever need real streets, squares, mountains, sunshine and fresh air, touchable rivers, seas, forests, green fields, flower gardens? (I confess Orwell and Ray Bradbury had considerable effect on my imagination.)

Now let us see the theme from an optimistic viewpoint: VR can be applied for sure to several useful aims, research, to improve the quality of life of the humankind too. What kind of advantage can be made of virtual reality and intelligent space? What can we expect of the ever developing and strengthening relationship between GIS and virtual reality?

Being the most important instrument, multimedia is providing the display and operation of virtual worlds. I tried to approach this fact from the direction of education. The above written first definition I have completed with a second one taken from an earlier presentation of Tamás Prajczer with the intention to investigate the opportunities of using VR:
„Virtual reality is an artificial environment built up by the computer. Typically, the computer produces 3D images and sound effects in real time. The user can step into interactive contact with that world and influence its life (one can touch objects and even move them to other places). The virtual world tries to copy the real world; its main feature is the level of „liveability”, the adaptability and the interactivity.  A virtual world is the better the better it reflects the reality, the real world. In a virtual world, in an intelligent space one can sense and manipulate objects by using special instruments, tools; e. g. data gloves sense the movement of fingers, and the helmets sense the movement of the head. Apart from visual and sound effects, by using a dress developed for this purpose, one can sense e. g. pressure on the skin”.

Virtual world techniques: fields of application

Basically, our world is three-dimensional (more exactly, four-dimensional together with time), and multimedia can display all these perfectly. The virtual world was created from aerial photographs and 3D elevation models. As proven by series of experiments, for maintaining the illusion it is necessary to display 15-25 images per sec; it needs a massive computerized background. Therefore, the virtual world consists of „many small rooms” in general, and the user can walk through these rooms and place objects here and there or influence the functions. When displaying larger landscape or relief, the user is in a more spacious, but single „room” only. At this scale, it is a bit more difficult to meet the demand of interactivity, as the objects here are bigger, and the result of interventions aiming at moving them will appear with some delay.

These techniques are applied mostly for simulation, research and planning, but first of all in the entertainment business. Namely, the fans of multimedia seem to find that 2D world of maps and image-like presentations  is just boring. The more: I am afraid that the static and sometimes silent real world’s three dimensions are not interesting enough for them anymore…

To perform significant changes in the real world, everybody knows, costs generally a lot of blood, but at least sweat and stress. But on the contrary: you can easily change anything in the sparkling, glittering, vibrating, loudly singing and dramatically thunderous, fantastic virtual world of interactive 3D models enriched by animated images, reflections,  jumping lights and patterns, extremely slowed down or accelerated films and a camera moved according to the user’s caprices: this is expressively much more attractive for many of us. 

The virtual world technique united with GIS can be applied in several fields, which will be extended in the future by all means. The most spectacular success can be observed perhaps in town planning, territorial planning, landscape development and archaeology. The common feature of these disciplines is that by the help of virtual world technique, the old constructions or settlements that disappeared long-long ago and the landscapes, buildings living only in the imagination of the designers can be perceived as real ones; one can live in or among them „with body and soul”. Because of the same reason, tourism is also very promising as a field of application: we can feel remote landscapes, views „right on our skin”. This makes much stronger effect on the senses than any video or colourful brochure: the temptation to travel is irresistible, more than ever before.

And with it we arrived now at the commercial aims and target groups. Commercial people and dealers are discovering and utilizing the virtual world in growing measures, especially for advertisement: the ten million visitors of this kind of websites provide a pretty acceptable guarantee. By now, the electronic commerce became a daily practice. (By the way: in e-commerce context I met for the first time with the word „avatar” – its original meaning is an incarnation of God Vishnu of India, but in virtual reality it is a doll, a marionette „who” is walking and shopping in the „second life” or other similar websites as an alter ego of the user (many times truly copying its personal characteristics too…). You see: the creators of the virtual world do not depend on anybody’s help anymore; they do not need to invite well-known persons, famous actors or celebrities for big money or take the trouble of copyrights and licences. It is enough to find a cheaper but creative graphic designer instead…

Let us leave the commerce: as a consequence of the current level of PR and marketing, these themes are all known by now. There are a lot of serious aims to reach: feasibility studies for geology, forestry, environment, nature protection, construction, landscape planning, water management or national defence together with the integration of all related valuable GIS databases and systems into the solutions supported by multimedia.

Nowadays, many metropolises of the world are possessing complex databases completed by hyper maps and multimedia. Consequently, the locations of the virtual world can be displayed as true replicas of reality in optional periods of time: natural environment, setting, townscape, property structure, development/improvement, problems to solve relating social situation, health care, planning policy, new objects or establishments etc.

The systems consisting of several modern hardware and software, which display analogue and digital data for the town management are able to perform the following tasks in general:

• land use analysis,
• town traffic analysis (using not only quantity indices but image and sound recording too),
• displaying townscape (the image of a selected location taken from surrounding outlook points or the environment observed from a selected location (360° panorama view),
• movements on the roads shown by videos,
• flying over the town (changeable direction and speed forward and backwards),
• visual simulation,
• demonstrating the planned changes by images and videos.

Advantages of the virtual reality technique

• manifold demonstration (through maps, numbers, sound and image) of the given problems and suggested solutions,
• the given objects can be connected with textual information and images according to their location and attributes and one can search for them in the system,
• the information displayed by several tools can easily be interpreted without any special user’s knowledge,
• the system – affecting almost all senses of the user – will place him/her into the middle of the displayed theme, providing overall experience,
• the system’s construction is completely user-friendly.

We must not forget about the significance of data acquisition of course: the more complex is the system, the virtual world is built up of the more elements, and it needs the more careful, more precise and manifold data acquisition work with permanent updating of data: all these together form the basis of the whole.

(Hungarian version published also in Térinformatika 6/2007, www.terinformatika-online.hu)