10 Oct 08 - Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT has launched a new, 3D version of CityWall. CityWall is a large multi-touch display that supports large numbers of people interacting by touch on the display simultaneously.
"The display is well suited for interactive communication in public spaces. Anyone can send photos, comments and watch videos on the display and interact with each other, as well as with other content on the display by using SMS and Flickr”, tells Ann Morrison, Researcher and Project Leader, HIIT.
The display is made by using data projectors, cameras and infrared in a rear projection system. This allows supporting multiple cameras and projectors to handle larger screen sizes. The main features of CityWall’s infrared based computer vision allow multiple hand tracking capable of identifying uniquely as many fingers and hands as can fit in the screen. The widget framework built on top of the computer vision component tracks gestures and maps them to 2D/3D graphics engine interaction tasks. The setup works in changing day and night light conditions and allows us to use a shopfront window as a screen.
This is the first time CityWall’s 3D version has been in use at Lasipalatsi, centre of Helsinki, Finland. An interactive exhibition shows examples of the benefits and nuisances of urban nature in collaboration with Finnish Environment Institute SYKE.
This exhibition will remain on permanent installation in Lasipalatsi, with many thanks for support from Tommi Ilmonen at http://multitouch.fi/ and the HIIT team Jari Kleimola, Rodolfo Samperio and Peter Peltonen. The work has been funded by the 6th Framework Research Programme of the EU, through the IPCity project http://www.ipcity.eu (FP-2004- IST-4-27571).
HIIT is a joint research institution of Helsinki University of Technology TKK and the University of Helsinki.
Video on CityWall 3D version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IldDrCcZkZY
Website:
http://citywall.org
More information:
Ann Morrison, Researcher and Project Leader
Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT
ann.morrison a hiit.fi
Tel +384 50 384 1519
Last updated on 20 Oct 2008 by WWW administrator - Page created on 9 Oct 2008 by Visa Noronen