The Meshmoon service platform created by Adminotech Oy, located in Kempele, Finland, is a success story of multidisciplinary research cooperation. The EUE program has provided a splendid opportunity for customer-driven and user-centric development of virtual environments. Now development work will be done even closer to customers – Adminotech has opened its Otaniemi offIce at Urban Mill.
Virtual reality environments have been used in modeling, education and entertainment already for many years, but the technological development of the last few years has enabled exploiting applications in new ways. Great strides in display and control technology have provided us technology suitable for interworking and communication which is presently also gaining ground in mobile environments.
Adminotech Oy specializes in the development of virtual reality systems aimed for use by businesses and educational establishments. The Meshmoon 3D application hosting service has quickly gained popularity after its launch in October 2012. There are over 500 hosted virtual environments, of which half are outside Finland.
Meshmoon exploits the RealXtend technology based on open-source code created jointly by businesses in the Oulu Region. Anyone can develop and publish game and other applications using it. Adminotech Oy has from the start been involved in the development of this platform and related business.
Customers´ needs as starting point of development
Full-scale exploitation of multiuse technology calls for pioneering projects. One such is the large-scale urban modeling implemented as part of the EUE program in cooperation between Aalto University, SRV Group Plc and the City of Espoo.
– Virtual environments offer huge potential for things like visualization and prototype building, says Tommi Hollström, CEO of Adminotech Oy. He thinks that exploitation of technology is only limited by our imagination. Yet, it is absolutely necessary that understanding of the application area and technology meet. That can be a great challenge for a software company that naturally has contacts primarily with the IT sector.
– Technology already enables developing highly versatile applications. Meshmoon can provide cost-effective and simple web hosting for different user groups, but our challenge is meeting suitable customers and realizing their true needs. Utilization potential might be greatest in traditional industry, especially the construction industry, where the know-how required for exploiting virtual reality is not yet widespread. That is why multidisciplinary research is so important, Holmström stresses.
Interactive R&D
The participants of the EUE project have assisted in the planning of the Meshmoon service and provided continuous feedback on its functioning. That has given the experts of virtual reality technology the opportunity to advise and inspire their partners in the construction industry in the exploitation of modern technology.
According to Holmström, especially the level of performance of the service and its scalability have proven important for environmental planning and the construction industry which typically deal with wide areas. In virtual reality large and small scales coincide since they allow introducing a quite human and down-to-earth perspective to regional models.
The popularity of the Meshmoon service has increased strongly since its introduction October 2012.
For further information:
Tommi Hollström, Adminotech Oy
Phone: +358 40 747 8886
[http://bit.ly/kV4svy]
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