{"id":909,"date":"2021-11-10T13:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T13:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=909"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:06:25","slug":"visiting-the-dublin-docklands-with-3dcampvr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=909","title":{"rendered":"Visiting the Dublin Docklands with 3DcampVR"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Recently, I visited a virtual Dublin Docklands to understand the uses
\n of real-time data in Unity-generated spaces. But I didn’t wake up that
\nday knowing I was going to do that. This is my story of a serendipitous
\nMeetup with 3DcampVR. If you like to experiment with virtual spaces,
\nfeel immersed in new places, and imagine the possibilities with all
\nkinds of spatial computing, join us on this journey!<\/span><\/p>\n

It started with a buzzing phone…<\/span><\/h2>\n

In
\n a completely unusual way for me to wake up, at 6 a.m. Eastern, my phone
\n started buzzing with messages. It was a research colleague telling me
\nthat I had to sign up for a Meetup. We are in the middle of an online
\nconference so I thought it was a larger conference event that I could
\ncatch later. While I tried to put the phone down and start my day, it
\nkept buzzing with instructions on how to sign up. This was disturbing my
\n quality oatmeal eating time. My colleague was insistent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally getting online to look at the Meetup<\/a>
\n directly, I read the instructions and scrolled to the bottom of the
\npage where it said “Only 10 slots left!” The caffeine hit at that moment
\n and I started to get my log-ins and contacts straightened out to
\nattend. I still didn’t quite know why I was going, but I was intrigued
\nby this line: “Participants will be encouraged to discuss their
\nexperiences of the Dublin Docklands by our asking about the missing
\nsites in the model in AltspaceVR<\/i>.” I don’t even know Dublin! How
\ncan I know what’s missing? But alas, as a good learner, I spent an hour
\nwandering freely around the space observing everything to just see what I
\n could see.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early observations<\/span><\/h2>\n

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 <\/a>
\n tour. When first transported into the space, you are on the edge of the
\n wide open dock space. You will not feel cramped or as if the buildings
\nare towering down on you. I could almost feel the surely constant
\nbreezes that happen in wide open water spaces. Walking in AltspaceVR is
\nfast & easy so you can get up, down, and via bridges across the
\nspaces within moments. More on how that fast walking got me in trouble
\nlater.<\/span><\/p>\n

True to promise, a few buildings are incredibly detailed.
\nYou can easily walk in. There are spaces, columns, and even elevator
\nshafts. Looking at the views from inside of a building out were
\nbeautiful. I could almost feel the sunshine streaming through the
\nwindows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back outside, the bridges are incredibly detailed and
\nartistic. Where else are you going to get daytime photos from standing
\nin the middle of either set of lanes?<\/span><\/p>\n

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My
\n favorite find? What appears to be a window purposely left open in one
\nof the buildings. I won’t tell you where. You’ll have to find it.<\/span><\/p>\n

See, aren’t we already having fun<\/i>?<\/span><\/p>\n

The tour begins<\/span><\/h3>\n

Right
\n before the set time, AltspaceVR pushed an update, but that only took
\none minute to apply. We were greeted by name by our host James Corbett
\ndirectly upon arrival. James introduced our main guides, Oliver (Ollie)
\nDawkins (NCG at NUIM), and Gareth Young (V-SENSE at TCD). Unfortunately,
\n Gareth’s audio went out but that lead to a running joke and some
\nhilarious gesture-based communication for which Gareth was a totally
\ngood sport.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Our first stop on the tour was directly next to us at the Dublin Convention Centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

Real life:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Unity-generated:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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We
\n were able to walk inside and up the escalator ramps, which as per
\ntypical me, I fell off of three times to arrive at the 4th floor views.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Here
\n we discussed what the uses of virtual spaces like this would be.
\nAdditionally, we were challenged to add to those thoughts what the
\nbenefit of real-time data would be to depictions of virtual space,
\ncalled deep mapping.<\/b> This was the real food for thought of the experience.<\/span><\/p>\n