Navigating the past and present with one’s body as the only tool

Education | No comments

par Elsa Sidawy | 07.22.11

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With the lofty aim of going back in time, the project Forward to the Past has, unsurprisingly, been a long time in the making. Since 1999, the city of Rennes has been working with the enterprise Archividéo to construct a 3D model of the city. Indeed, the long process has made the capital of Brittany a pioneer of the genre: “In 1999 we were one of the first cities in the world to model in 3D,” enthuses Arnaud Daniel, manager of the project at Rennes.

Navigate a 3D model with the help of one’s hands
Today the city is able to present to the general public a new phase of the project. Exhibited at the 2011 edition of Lift France and previously at Futur en Seine, the project Forward to the Past is a 3D model of Rennes which users can navigate through time and space using their very own body. For example, moving one’s right hand toward the screen allows one to wander the streets and resting one’s arms along one’s body allows one to stop and admire the facade of a building. It is actually possible to admire the city from every angle and at any height, almost literally hovering above the clouds. Impressive. Forward to the Past crosses five periods ranging from 1720 to the present, and passes through 1850, 1947 and 1980, enabling users to easily discovery the charm of yesteryear’s city.

How were they able to create a navigation system based on simple gestures? The city was inspired by existing video games, namely Microsoft’s Kinect. By appropriating this program’s technology, the creators were able to convert the body into a veritable joystick. ”We wanted to be free of keyboards and mice and to operate through natural interfaces,” said Arnaud.   While the overall development of the 3D model has taken almost 12 years of work, “interfacing with Kinect, conducted by the Rennes association Bug, took only a few weeks.“ Creating the library of gestures and “optimizing gestures that are the most instinctive“ demanded the greatest amount of work.

From the implication to the participation of citizens
Today, the model is used for historical displays or as part of educational demonstrations at schools in the region. Feedback from users seems quite positive, “especially for fifty-year olds who discover how their parents lived.“ For some months now, an interactive map accessible via the website “From Condate to Rennes,” and more recently an iPhone application using 3D navigation in the city, have been available to users. By October, all Rennais will be able to try the prototype as part of the “Caravanes des quartiers.”   Eventually, Forward to the Past will be used in urban project design and “starting in September, we will work on creating a future time period, to show people what their neighborhoods will look like in the future.“ In addition to this project, the city is currently considering a way to involve, not just implicate inhabitants in the construction of their city. Rennes, French pioneer in open-data, shows once again that it is leading the way in innovative technology.