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A carboard box by Google can bring virtual reality to architecture

BIM and Information Technology

A carboard box by Google can bring virtual reality to architecture

The simple smartphone accessory simulates what it looks like to be in a building not yet constructed.


By BD+C Staff | April 9, 2015
A carboard box by Google can bring virtual reality to architecture
A carboard box by Google can bring virtual reality to architecture

The global search engine giant has launched a new product, Google Cardboard, that easily allows users to experience virtual reality.

This, according to ArchDaily, can make waves in the field of architecture.

Imagine Google Maps, but for proposed projects and designs. A client will be able to tilt his or head up, down, left, or right, and see what a room will look like from various angles.

But unlike Google Maps, the user isn’t limited to a two-dimensional screen. Renderings are tweaked into a “Photo Sphere,” which look distorted when seen normally with the naked eye.

The image is then sent to a smartphone, and the smartphone is placed inside the Google Cardboard, a specially-designed, collapsible box that functions like a stereoscope.

“The simple yet elegant technology gives the [viewer] free will,” ArchDaily reports. “You can choose where to look, and linger where you like. You are in the space and you yourself are ‘to scale’.”

ArchDaily has the full report.

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