Not sure how the buildings were designed but I suspect through using Sketchup. This effectively allows you to create models and insert them on to Google Earth.

Staying with virtual earths here’s an interesting TED talk by Stephen Lawler on the beta Virtual Earth. It streams a vast amount of rich data provided by the web community.

As an aside it’s worth noting as to how the speaker is able to pack so much information into the presentation in such a short space of time.

In the words of Stephen the key issue here is how the user is able to use their brain, to navigate and explore, discover information as opposed to being constrained through traditional browsing via search engines, remembering urls and favorites. This could be the future look of the internet.

As a final point of interest you may not need a vast array of photos or data to create 3D navigable web objects. Photowoosh allows you to create a 3D model from a single photograph, similar to a pop up book page. Imagine the kinds of virtual projects as student can produce using this kind of software all from one image.

And this is where things get really interesting, because the software is able to work through the images and when the same feature is found across multiple images it creates a 3D representation by spatially relating each image to each other. It’s very hard to put into words so I recommend viewing the video below, about 4 minutes in the 3D aspect is demoed using images of the Notre Dame Cathedral taken from Flickr, (they simply typed in ‘Notre Dame’ in flickr). The presenter then ‘browses’ through the image.

The Flickr aspect is of course interesting since we are now talking of resources created through social networks using photos taken from any kind of camera (cellphones through to SLRs). As the presenter states we’re taking data from the collective memory of everyone in terms of what the world looks like and linking it all together. A model then emerges representing something which is greater than the sum of the parts (photos). And it will become more detailed as more photos are added. As a photo is added it is tagged with the metadata which allows then person who added it to use it as a portal into the rest of the associated photos.

So we’re talking about images being hyperlinked together on the basis of the image content. One possible future for the web? You enter a term in Google, it returns and image and then you click on the image to travel through related images? Semantic network richness.

I’ve looked at the actual demo software itself. There’s a number of collections to view together with the 3D visualizations, (here’s a link to it).

Thanks to Mike Mylles.

If you want to gen up on virtual worlds and their possible applications to learning this article is good starting point.

Second Life of course gets a mention together with some examples. IBM for instance use it for mentoring and orientating new employees. IBM have more than one island and am currently having a look at some). Also here’s some screenshots of the GreaterIBMbloc party. Interesting – they have main presentations with break out areas.

Another example is Cisco Systems. They have training island with classrooms, areas for students to mingle, and a teleportation system. “Learners move around the large virtual campus, by sitting on a teleporter and magically appearing at a desired location. ”I haven’t looked at this yet though, here’s the link if someone would like to volunteer…

Another example I’d like to check but haven’t the time is the VITAL Laboratory at Ohio University, (National Science Foundation). “These online learning environments are filled with avatars roaming around the classroom conducting virtual experiments and applying real world principles to online objects.”

The article goes on to define the variety of virtual worlds in terms of 3 categories:

*Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)
Obviously game based with levels and tasks. Interaction comes through working together with other users to achieve goals. The most famous MMORPG is World of Warcraft. “MMORPGs are used to teach concepts related to the real world through examples. It is possible to completely corner a market in an MMORPG and then observe the repercussions where that is not possible in real life. One can also observe interactions between and among players to understand teamwork, group goals, and other social interactions. However, the fantasy aspects of most MMORPGs make it difficult to apply the use of these games within a work setting.”

* Metaverses (Second Life is one of these)
Metaverse as a term represents the possible future of the internet (“The term has come to represent the idea of an online 3D world inhabited by avatars controlled by their real-life counterparts.”).

“A metaverse is similar to an MMORPG but with some vital differences. First, in a metaverse, players are not playing a defined role such as a hunter or mage, they are playing a character they have created. In addition, the metaverse typically does not have specific goals or objectives created by the metaverse itself. Players can create their own goals or objectives, but they are not an inherent part of the world. Finally, the environment of a metaverse typically allows the player to create his or her own digital items, such as houses and clothes, using a scripting language or by dragging and dropping items.” There are more details including the role of avatars.

In addition to Second Life other metaverses also get a mention including: Actvie Worlds, (see the YouTube video trailer) and There.

* Massively Multilearner Online Learning Environments (MMOLE).
As the title suggest specifically created for e-learning. “The MMOLE is a genre of a computer generated learning environment in which large numbers of learners interact with each other in a virtual 3D world with the specific goal of learning. The learning can occur formally through a class-like environment or through a scripted scenario (like a role play). In that way it is like a MMORPG since it has specific goals. However, learning also can occur informally through chats and discussions among learners in a fashion similar to a metaverse. So, the MMOLE is a combination of a metaverse and a MMORPG designed for learning.”.

Interestingly they come with student and instructor modes: “The instructor mode allows someone to facilitate a learning event and manage the interactions within the environment. This prevents everyone from chatting at once, and it provides a formal environment in which to learn.” I can see the value but not sure whether ‘formal environment’ is counter to the philosophy of the MMOLE.

A MMOLE example is provided. ProtoSphere developed by ProtonMedia is apparently capable of tracking learner outcomes on specific events. Not only that it has a profiling system which matches learners to each other based on their interests and knowledge.

Of course the above is only a summary. Further reading of the article is recommended. Web Link