The Globe: Immersive Data Visualization

Stichting z25.org, in collaboration with the Media And Performance Lab (MAPLAB), embarked on an extraordinary data visualization pilot project for the iZone—a revolutionary concept within the Utrecht office of Deloitte. The iZone was designed to provoke innovative thinking and encourage unconventional actions through its avant-garde design.

Our mission, in partnership with MAPLAB, was to create an immersive, interactive data experience. The project utilized open data sourced from Eurostat, specifically the EU Industrial R&D Investment ScoreBoard spanning from 2002 to 2010.

The Visualization:

The result of our collaborative effort is a real-time 3D world, seamlessly navigable with a tablet interface. This dynamic platform empowers users to explore R&D investment data with unprecedented depth. By applying filters for year, industry branch, continent, or country, users can engage with the data in entirely new, explorative ways, allowing them to validate and compare various scenarios interactively.

Technological Innovation:

For the heart of this immersive experience, we chose the Blender Game Engine (BGE) as our real-time 3D engine. This engine powers the visuals displayed on the iZone's remarkable Experience Wall, an imposing 8-meter-wide screen comprised of 12 full HD screens, boasting a total resolution of 5760 x 1080 pixels.

The tablet application is ingeniously constructed as a web application, implementing jQuery and Ajax for seamless communication with an HTTP server running within the BGE environment.

z25 Blender HTTP Server:

To bridge the connection between the web application and Blender, we developed a robust HTTP server featuring a REST API that operates seamlessly within BGE. This server, equipped with introspection capabilities, effortlessly recognizes all objects within a given scene. This means that through our webservice, users can retrieve information on every object within a scene and manipulate their attributes remotely.

This project represents a remarkable fusion of innovation, technology, and data, inviting you to explore the world of R&D investments in an immersive, interactive, and thought-provoking manner. Welcome to The Globe.