The municipalities’ path to the metaverse
As a citizen it is relatively easy to find self-service solutions for tasks where there is a need to get in touch with the municipality. Nevertheless, the municipalities can advantageously start preparing for an internet that has a great physical dimension, and where users expect interaction in virtual, augmented and mixed reality.
“Although it is possible that we will end up there one day, the metaverse does not mean that a digital copy of the town hall will be build, where the citizens go as if they were in a computer game. In a realistic scenario, this means that we as citizens increasingly can expect to be presented with data in a digital layer on top of the physical world, exactly where we need data,” says Michael Harboe, CEO in Virasbi.A great example is the utilities that can present you with guides for meters, waste sorting, digital lines to mark neighbourhood boundaries or city planners that can illustrate changes in outdoor areas that you can see on your phone, tablet or in your AR/VR glasses when you move around in the city
Excellent for optimization of building operations
When the technology comes into use, both citizens and employees will develop new ideas for how it can make life easier for both parties – and save time and money in the administration.
“The latter – saving time and money – technology is already capable of doing today. Mixed reality is excellent for optimizing the operation and maintenance of buildings and facilities – an area that is a great item in many municipal budgets,” says Michael Harboe.
With the Tutorio app for HoloLens, for example, it is extremely easy to create virtual guides in a physical space. Once a person has made a guide, the next person come and put on the HoloLens and there are digital post-it notes spread in the room that guide the person to perform any task. It is the end of incomprehensible worksheets or manuals that get lost.
If the guide in Tutorio is not self-explanatory, you can simply make a call in Teams via HoloLens. Your colleague in the Teams meeting will be able to see everything you see in the field and at the same time draw information in a digital layer which you can see on top of reality. In this way it is easy to guide people and get the tasks done.
“The municipalities that are getting started now are reaping an immediate efficiency gain, simultaneously with learning to work with the technologies that will support communication with the citizens in the future,” says Harboe.
