This “upgrade” will be many years after the system launch. Instead of computer-generated recreations of the world, some people will be keen to see real imagery.

While recreating the whole world – or even entire cities – with real images will most likely never happen, it could be done on a limited basis. I can see it being used for very popular or special locations, like a town square or outside a cathedral.

Here’s the method:

• Empty the location of people and moveable objects
• Take a 360 degree photo
• Move 1 cm and take another, in a grid pattern until the whole area has been photographed
• Stitch them together with software
• Use the photos as background for virtual visitors
• Overlay avatars, avatar vehicles, augmented reality data and so on

I guess the improvement over existing and planned 3D visits to special places is that you will get a sense of being there Now, rather than Then.

The boffins will need to decide if this is possible over 5G in real time. You might need to download the imagery first, and then visit.