Mr. Ghislain Lemire reports

URBANIMMERSIVE REVOLUTIONIZES 3D DIGITAL TWINS EXPERIENCE WITH 360DEGREE VIDEO FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Urbanimmersive Inc. has launched its 3-D digital twins 360-degree video fusion (VF) innovation, a new technology set to disrupt the multibillion market size digital twin industry. 3-D VF bridges the gap between the immersive experience of 3-D digital twins and the emotional engagement offered by 360-degree videos by seamlessly integrating both in one user experience.

For context, it is worth noting that although the adoption of 3-D digital twins has increased since the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns and physical visit restrictions, they have not become a standard practice in the real estate industry, and have even seen a slowdown in adoption. The primary deterrents include the relative cost of creating these immersive 3-D models, their lack of emotional connection with viewers compared with other media like videos, and, fundamentally, the focus of 3-D digital twins on showcasing homes for sale rather than helping agents present themselves to win more listings.

Unsurprisingly, 360-degree videos are gaining popularity. They allow viewers to rotate their field of view by 360 degrees and are easily created with affordable, off-the-shelf 360-degree cameras. These videos are not only free and easy to make, but also engaging, featuring audio components that foster a stronger emotional connection with viewers than 3-D digital twins. More importantly, they showcase the real estate agents who record the home 360-degree video tours.

However, these 360-degree video tours present a significant drawback: viewers are forced to either watch the entire video or use the minute-second timeline to fast-forward to specific points of interest. This contrasts with 3-D digital twins, where viewers can click to navigate freely within the environment.

Urbanimmersive has countered this issue with the development of its 3-D digital twins 360-degree video fusion. This innovation automatically integrates 3-D navigation loved by users into 360-degree videos, revolutionizing the 360-degree video viewing experience. It enables viewers to explore 360-degree videos just as they would with standard 3-D digital twins. Rather than depending on the timeline to find a desired location, they can navigate in 3-D within the video. The experience enables users to jump to a specific spatial location within the 3-D tour and view the 360-degree video from this new perspective and field of sight.

The fusion goes way further than just enabling 360-degree videos with 3-D navigation capability. In terms of technological innovation, the 3-D VF innovation is characterized by an advanced level of interaction between the 360-degree video footage and the 3-D scenes. They are synchronized in both time and space, ensuring a coherent and seamless 3-D scene embedded within the 360-degree video. This synthesis yields a visual experience where the intricate 3-D elements of the digital twins appear to be inserted into the 360-degree video scene. In other words, when the 360-degree video path changes, the 3-D elements such as on-the-floor navigation pins, the 3-D tags, the jump-to virtual gates and 3-D avatars are synchronously adjusted in the scene. In essence, the meta-data of the 360-degree video is employed to manipulate and control the 3-D digital twin environments and objects, ensuring a seamless, integrated viewing experience.

In terms of production process, another innovation from Urbanimmersive development team is that 3-D VF can be generated automatically. This automation advancement is opening many new licensing business opportunities as the main postproduction cost remains entirely on rendering server time. Three-dimensional VF innovation is derived from the company's latest ultrafast scanning feature recently announced. Therefore, from the 3-D VF provide the options to generate a detailed 2-D floor plan drawing of the scanned space.

Unleashing new digital twins capabilities

Text to map

Three-dimensional VF introduces enhanced navigation capabilities that offer significant benefits to stakeholders. This innovation begins by converting the audio track from the 360-degree video into text. Utilizing AI (artificial intelligence), the text is then transformed into geo-located, multilingual captions, allowing users to interact and jump directly to specific locations within the 3-D tour and 2-D map where particular words or phrases were spoken. In the context of home inspections, for example, professionals can search for terms like concrete cracks. The system then provides a list of instances where these words are mentioned, enabling users to click and be transported directly to the 3-D locations associated with those terms.

Geo-matched summary AI report

The integration of 360-degree video fusion technology also facilitates the creation of AI-powered geo-matched summary reports. This feature enables every paragraph of the report to be linked directly to the specific captions and 3-D locations within the digital twins that are referenced. For instance, in real estate marketing, a geo-matched summary report could include a paragraph focusing on a property's exterior views. When this paragraph is clicked, the map displays all locations where comments about the exceptional views were made, offering an interactive and detailed exploration of the property's features. The summary can also serve as an extended indexable text, enhancing the property's on-line visibility and promotion.

Ghislain Lemire, chief executive officer of Urbanimmersive, commented: "Once you experience 3-D VF, you immediately understand what was missing in the standard 3-D digital twins used for marketing. Even packed with features such as 3-D tags, video-conferencing, avatars and other enhancements, standard 3-D tours are a hard sell, a race to the bottom, as many clients consider them a 'nice to have' rather than a 'must-have.' Our champion site clients who helped us test our 3-D digital twins 360-degree video fusion have unanimously declared it a game-changer. Unlike standard 3-D digital twins, this innovation not only places agents at the forefront but also conveys a wealth of information in a highly engaging manner that is uniquely achievable through video. Such positive responses affirm our belief that after a decade and a half of continuous evolution in 3-D technology development, we've struck gold. The best 3-D technology for the real estate marketing market is not the one that enables you to have the best 3-D scene but the one that put forefront the agent."

Rollout of 3-D VF

Through extensive testing, the go-to choice for a 360-degree camera capable of creating high-quality 360-degree videos with exceptional audio is the Insta360 ONE R with a wireless microphone to enhance audio recording. Urbanimmersive is planning a progressive rollout of the new 3-D VF to ensure a smooth distribution of capture hardware and a controlled ramp-up in postprocessing. As such, 3-D VF will initially only be offered by Urbanimmersive's photography service brands, in specific markets with selected clients, before becoming available to all in December, 2023.

Application for real estate agents

In the realm of real estate marketing, the introduction of 3-D video fusion heralds a novel approach to displaying properties, seamlessly combining a 3-D tour, 360-degree video and a 2-D floor plan. Real estate agents, armed with an off-the-shelf 360-degree video camera, find it effortless to showcase their listings with enriched detail and interactivity. The process is straightforward: agents capture the property in a 360-degree video and upload it to Urbanimmersive's servers. What they receive in return is a comprehensive digital twins 360-degree video fusion that elevates property presentation, offering an unmatched value proposition in the market.

Business case examples for home inspections

The integration of 3-D VF technology is particularly transformative for professional home inspection (PTP), bringing a slew of benefits that enhance both efficiency and quality of inspections. Inspectors' commentaries become interactive, captioned and geo-located within the 3-D space, ushering in a new era of precision and context. Each observation and insight is anchored to its specific location within the physical space and floor plan, enhancing clarity and utility.

An automatic deficiency report generation feature alleviates the traditional manual process, ensuring that each statement is systematically linked to its corresponding location. This not only boosts the accuracy but also minimizes the potential for errors or omissions inherent in manually written reports. The fusion of 360-degree video breathes life into the 3-D tours, offering stakeholders a richer and more immersive visual data source.

For home inspectors, the adoption of 3-D VF is not a futuristic aspiration but a present-day reality. The technology is a harbinger of efficiency, reducing the time typically spent on crafting deficiency reports, and ensuring that visual and textual data are integrally connected. The inclusion of both a 3-D tour and floor plan, derived from a single video recording, eliminates the need for separate scanning processes, epitomizing convenience and efficiency.

Applications for local businesses, hotels and resorts, and apartment rentals

The introduction of Urbanimmersive's 3-D video fusion technology significantly amplifies the scope and impact of virtual tours for local businesses, hotels and resorts, and apartment rentals. While traditional 3-D tours offer a silent walkthrough experience, the 3-D video fusion comes alive with a guide, providing an enriched, informative journey for viewers.

Local business owners can capitalize on this technology to present their merchandise in detail. Instead of a static view, customers can enjoy a dynamic exploration within the 3-D environment of the local business, where each product's features and benefits are explained, leading to an immersive shopping experience that bridges the gap between on-line browsing and in-store purchasing.

In the hospitality sector, hotels and resorts become more than an array of beautiful 360-degree images of a virtual tour. Each suite, amenity and feature is accentuated by the personal touch of a host who navigates viewers through the space, explaining the intricate details, services and exclusive offers. Viewers can decide to jump into a different suite or amenity depending on their interest.

For apartment rentals, prospective tenants enjoy a detailed view, enriched with a property manager's or owner's voice highlighting the unique features, benefits and specificities of each available unit. It is not just a 3-D tour, it is a personalized experience that caters to informed decisions, as viewers receive in-depth insights on not just the layout but also the lifestyle and conveniences that come with it.

Three-dimensional video fusion stands as a paradigm shift, where silent 3-D visuals evolve into informative, engaging narratives, transforming how spaces are presented, explored and appreciated in the virtual space. It is not just about seeing, it is about experiencing, understanding and connecting at a deeper level, driving informed decisions and enhanced engagement.

About Urbanimmersive Inc.

Urbanimmersive develops and commercializes real estate photography technologies and services focused on redefining industry visual content standards. The company's all-in-one platform enables high-volume photography businesses to increase operational productivity delivering feature-rich 3-D tours and floor plans, leading-edge property websites, and high-resolution AI-indexed images. The company operating segments include software (SaaS), 3-D photography equipment and, in a growing number of North American cities, technology-powered real estate photography service business units leading the industry photo-shoots standards transformation.

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