On February 28, 2019 Concept3D hosted a webinar that overviewed some of the biggest platform updates of 2019 and what we are most excited for in 2019.
Hosted by our own Carolyn Hushek, Head of Client Success and Jill Bobrick, Product Manager. They discussed wayfinding, VR-enabled virtual tours or as we call them 360° Tours created with Tour Builder and live data integrations.
Wayfinding
In 2018 Concept3D made a number of wayfinding enhancements. We added preferred routes, shareable routes, and exposed all wayfinding functionality through our Wayfinding API. Preferred routes allow clients to improve traffic flow and visitor experience through greater flexibility and control with their point to point directions. Preferred routes allow clients to help their stakeholder navigate their spaces better weighting factors other than shortest or fastest pathway. Shareable routes let client share predetermined or previous used routes. The example Jill used in the webinar of helping guests find a meeting room from a parking structure on a large campus is one of the most common uses. Lastly, the Wayfinding API was a huge success for Concept3D in 2018. This API exposes Concept3D's wayfinding functionality and algorithm for our clients that have the development resources to integrate it into other applications, including 3rd party.
And 2019 is poised to be an even bigger year for Concept3D and wayfinding. The first feature we are looking at adding to the platform is multiple routes. While having more than one version of turn by turn directions for both indoor navigation and complete campus coverage has many possible use cases this development work is part our commitment to accessibility. A common client request we get is wayfinding for that is based on the fastest route and wayfinding that can be navigated by someone in a wheelchair or with restricted vision. Incorporating this route optimization into one place so users has the best experience for their specific needs. .In the same spirit of wayfinding that an end-user can modify and control we are adding additional functionality to our content management system so the administrator can set and modify their own wayfinding paths and routes. We hope this development will be available by the second half of 2019.
360° Tours
2018 was a huge year for our 3D virtual tours, particularly, our 360° Tour. Tour Builder was released in 2018. Tour Builder is the section of our content management system that allows admins to create their own virtual tour. As part of Tour Builder we opened it out to non-clients so they can build their own limited function VR tour with the Tour Builder. In 2019 we plan on making several improvements and additional functionality to 360° Tours but the one we are most excited for is 360° video. Adding 360° video to the already interactive virtual experience of 360° Tour makes it just that more immersive. 360° Tours and Tour Builder are only part of virtual tour software we offer and are excited to see where we with collaboration with our clients go with them.
Live Data Integrations
Live data integrations is a bit of a catchall. For us it is everything from dynamic labeling (Carolyn's favorite) to our upcoming GTFS integration. Dynamic labels and custom map tiles are now able for our clients using OpenStreetMap base map tiles. Through our tile provider Mapbox we are able to use Mapbox Studio we are able to change the colors, different information for different zoom-levels, and simplify the label updating process. Sadly, this is only available for our OpenStreetMap clients, however, the switch might be easier than you think.... In 2019, though we will be expanding our transportation integrations. Adding to our existing integrations, Ride Systems, TransLoc, Syncromatics, and DoubleMap, we will add General Transit Feed Specification or GTFS. This is used by over 13,000 transportation agencies. We will integrate both real and static data. Sometimes data just does not seem thrilling, but in this case it is.
We want to thank all our clients and employees for a great 2018 and looking to a even better 2019!!!!
