HeroEngine World apply their technology to visualize real life in smart cities and to manage emergency situations in mass events and everyday life in virtual reality
Idea Fabrik, founded by the RUDN university alumni Alexander Shalash, signed a $2 000 000 contract with the Faculty of Advanced Disaster, Emergency and Rapid-response Simulation (ADERSIM) of York University (Ontario, Canada). As it was revealed to Forbes by a representative of Idea Fabrik, the company's technology helps to create visualizations of smart cities and allows to model emergency situations requiring organized collaboration of all city municipal services in virtual reality.
HeroEngine World developed its specialized technology to virtualise smart cities using HeroEngine, originally developed for Massive Multiplayer Online games. For example, it was used to develop Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Elder Scrolls Online games. This exceptional technology allows to visualize smart cities in real time, and to ensure the immutability of the information from the special sensors, HeroEngine uses blockchain technology.
Professor Ali Asgary, the Head of ADERSIM and the Advisory Board member of Idea Fabrik, explained their choice of such technology:
"Our faculty is specialized in the simulation of emergency situations in virtual reality. Hero Engine is a unique technology which allows emulating conditions for any number and kind of sensors".
He also specified, that with Hero Engine it is possible not only to model various scenarios in smart cities but also to screen city venues, power generation stations, airports, etc., displaying them in real time through sensors and cameras.
However, HeroEngine will have to compete with other technology developers. Ms. Olga Grinevskaya, the investment manager of IIDF, specified that the usage of 3d-modeling engines for solving practical issues, especially in urban science is not quite new, and mentioned Esri City Engine and 3dCyberCity as an example of such service. She also noted, that data visualization is not much complicated and is already used by many situational centers, and in her opinion, the key factor is the product's economical value:
"The potential market will depend on how much resources this technology will save for market players."
According to Idea Fabrik representatives, they are negotiating on distributing the service to the cities who already have a highly developed smart city infrastructure - Dubai, Toronto, and Astana.
Cyber-physical systems emulating real objects in virtual reality are essential for smart cities and "industry 4.0" objects. Such systems allow to virtualize the infrastructure, building and production processes, as well as change them if necessary. High costs and no common standards are main challenges for implementation of such systems (each object uses its software).
As estimated by MarketsandMarkets, the smart city product market volume will increase from $425 billion in 2017 to 1,2 trillion in 2022, while annual earnings gains from the technology will amount to 23% annually. Transport, construction, electronic services for citizens and public services will be developed and grow the most.