A major use of MapMerge will be visiting in the Now, whether it is for business or meeting family and friends.

It is anticipated that businesses will have designated meeting rooms for this purpose, and in homes a living room will be used. For the experience to be truly immersive, a number of cameras will need to be installed.

The combined images of the cameras, along with depth information (using technology like Microsoft’s Kinect), will be used to create a 3D model of the room and the location of humans. That room can be saved as a room avatar.

How real the room will appear to the virtual visitor will depend on advances in software, hardware and bandwidth.

At the very least the visitor will see a 3D model of the room (the room avatar), be able to move around the room, and see the Avatars of the real people.

At best the visitor will see a rendered room and people as photo-quality 3D, in real time. If it is more efficient, only  what changes in the room (movement of people for example) is transmitted as live video, while the rest of the room is rendered.

The people who are really in the room can select which aspects of the room are rendered, so that anything messy or sensitive can be removed. They can also choose to be presented as photo-real people (bandwidth permitting), or as their own avatars. Remember, they need to be merged into the Now anyway, to see the visitor.

Current Developments

Most prototypes for 3D teleconferencing revolve around holographic projections at a particular point in the room – say an empty seat at the table. These do not allow movement within the room by the visitor, and often the visitor doesn’t get a great experience.

The fun factor of using Avatars is also missing. Many people don’t want to be seen as their true selves. Look at the rise of text messaging while voice calls have diminished. Look at the massive success of “stickers” in phone chatting… Meanwhile the usage stats for Apple’s FaceTime are a mystery, but likely to be quite low.