Visiting the Dublin Docklands with 3DcampVR
Recently, I visited a virtual Dublin Docklands to understand the uses
of real-time data in Unity-generated spaces. But I didn’t wake up that
day knowing I was going to do that. This is my story of a serendipitous
Meetup with 3DcampVR. If you like to experiment with virtual spaces,
feel immersed in new places, and imagine the possibilities with all
kinds of spatial computing, join us on this journey!
It started with a buzzing phone…
In
a completely unusual way for me to wake up, at 6 a.m. Eastern, my phone
started buzzing with messages. It was a research colleague telling me
that I had to sign up for a Meetup. We are in the middle of an online
conference so I thought it was a larger conference event that I could
catch later. While I tried to put the phone down and start my day, it
kept buzzing with instructions on how to sign up. This was disturbing my
quality oatmeal eating time. My colleague was insistent.
Finally getting online to look at the Meetup
directly, I read the instructions and scrolled to the bottom of the
page where it said “Only 10 slots left!” The caffeine hit at that moment
and I started to get my log-ins and contacts straightened out to
attend. I still didn’t quite know why I was going, but I was intrigued
by this line: “Participants will be encouraged to discuss their
experiences of the Dublin Docklands by our asking about the missing
sites in the model in AltspaceVR.” I don’t even know Dublin! How
can I know what’s missing? But alas, as a good learner, I spent an hour
wandering freely around the space observing everything to just see what I
could see.
Early observations
While I have not IRL been to the Docklands, I have read the powerful “1916” by Morgan Llywelyn and I love the Dublin Rising 1916 – 2016
tour. When first transported into the space, you are on the edge of the
wide open dock space. You will not feel cramped or as if the buildings
are towering down on you. I could almost feel the surely constant
breezes that happen in wide open water spaces. Walking in AltspaceVR is
fast & easy so you can get up, down, and via bridges across the
spaces within moments. More on how that fast walking got me in trouble
later.
True to promise, a few buildings are incredibly detailed.
You can easily walk in. There are spaces, columns, and even elevator
shafts. Looking at the views from inside of a building out were
beautiful. I could almost feel the sunshine streaming through the
windows.
Back outside, the bridges are incredibly detailed and
artistic. Where else are you going to get daytime photos from standing
in the middle of either set of lanes?
My
favorite find? What appears to be a window purposely left open in one
of the buildings. I won’t tell you where. You’ll have to find it.
See, aren’t we already having fun?
The tour begins
Right
before the set time, AltspaceVR pushed an update, but that only took
one minute to apply. We were greeted by name by our host James Corbett
directly upon arrival. James introduced our main guides, Oliver (Ollie)
Dawkins (NCG at NUIM), and Gareth Young (V-SENSE at TCD). Unfortunately,
Gareth’s audio went out but that lead to a running joke and some
hilarious gesture-based communication for which Gareth was a totally
good sport.
Our first stop on the tour was directly next to us at the Dublin Convention Centre.
Real life:
Unity-generated:
 |
We
were able to walk inside and up the escalator ramps, which as per
typical me, I fell off of three times to arrive at the 4th floor views.
Here
we discussed what the uses of virtual spaces like this would be.
Additionally, we were challenged to add to those thoughts what the
benefit of real-time data would be to depictions of virtual space,
called deep mapping. This was the real food for thought of the experience.
- What
if you wanted to watch the rising water levels in case of flood, but it
is nighttime and live scene cameras are of no help? A virtual depiction
of real water levels could help. - What if an elderly couple need
to visit a new medical office building, but they have no idea which
floor or office to head to, or even which door to the building they
should park their auto near? A virtual depiction could help. - What
if you wanted to be a tourist but you like to “see” the experience
before you arrive to help allay fears of agorophobia or social
interactions? Virtual again, to the rescue.
The Central Bank
Some nice group selfies at the stunning Central Bank building!
3D Modeling
Next stop was to the Admiral Brown statue to
talk about the challenges of laying photos images over Unity-created
objects. We are not at the end state with this challenge but it is
interesting to think about. How shiny should a statue’s boot be? As you
can see, this model is getting stunningly close to real.
Right
here, that walking speed thing came into play. I walked too slow and
lost the group. For one moment, I seriously looked up and down the
Docklands and saw no movement at all. Which way did they go? I thought
of hugging a tree…or a lamp post in this case. Hooray that my hosts
came to find me and walked me to a teleporter! I don’t think I properly
said thank you enough for that, so THANK YOU!
#alwaysremembertofindlosttourists
Wrap Up
Our final stop
on the tour was Luke Kelly statue virtual space. This had a playground
feel. I was reminded of the original creations from Second Life where
trees were literally 2 flat planes intersecting. We were able to move
all around the space and blow off some virtual energy by trying to walk
around and through things. At the end, we shared our interest in virtual
spaces. What an amazing group! We are all interested in big data, live
data, content capture, and all local Dublin developments for Unity.
Within a day, we’ve found each other in social networking and I’m eager to follow what’s next for the 3DcampVR group!
My thanks to the host and guides for a truly great time! It’s rare to meet a such a nice group of people dedicated to a very difficult and yet lofty challenge!
#3DcampVR #Dublin #DublinDocklands #VirtualTour #AltspaceVR #BigData #LiveData #SpatialComputing #3DModelling #DeepMap
This article originally posted to LinkedIn on February 20, 2020. Updated with re-added screen captures and a font change on February 23, 2026.