Meemim, a developer of mixed-reality GIS and collaboration platforms, will join forces with Mohawk College, a leading educational institution with expertise in visual and 3D modeling technologies, to advance mixed-reality visualization applications for municipalities, public utilities and locator service providers.
Meemim vGIS
In April 2017 Meemim released the world’s first mixed-reality based GIS system that combines the Microsoft HoloLens and Microsoft Azure with ESRI’s ArcGIS, enabling municipalities and public utilities to use mixed reality to visualize, identify and locate underground infrastructure.
The application allows field workers to “see” underground pipes, lines and cables as they work in the field on inspection, maintenance and construction projects.
Additionally, it enables in-app communication with office-based engineers and planners to collaborate in real time on field issues, with hands-free updates to ArcGIS and convenient access to visual knowledge management portal among other features.
The result is increased field safety and worker productivity, plus easy and accurate capture of in-field data and GIS updates.
Looking to the Future
Mixed-reality applications are still an emerging field. Even with Meemim’s extensive visualization and game-design experience, building a mixed-reality tool intended for field use had countless challenges.
Alec Pestov, Founder & CEO of Meemim, “While we are pleased with the acceptance and implementation of Meemim’s vGIS to date, it is imperative that we lead the way in the 3D application space for industrial use. Systems and demo apps designed for confined indoor spaces, such as showrooms, rely on completely different visual experiences.
“We are building a platform that truly blends the physical and virtual worlds. It needs to look natural, yet remain functional. And right now it stretches the capabilities of most advanced hardware to the limit. We’re confident that supplementing our internal talent with Mohawk College’s 3D modeling and animation know-how will help us stay at the forefront of emerging 3D technologies.”
Leveraging Talent
“This is a great example of Mohawk College partnering with industry to allow our students to learn by doing,” added Mohawk College Associate Dean of Media and Entertainment Kurt Muller. “They will gain real-world experience using state-of-the-art technology in the growing field of mixed reality.”
Geoff Graham, Professor of Animation 3D at Mohawk College, concurs. “There are highly advanced techniques in computer visualization that have been tested in motion picture animation and gaming. These advances can be applied to business applications. We’re excited to leverage the talent in our 3D technology programs to bring “state of the art” benefits to the Meemim vGIS platform.”
Added Pestov, “All the work we will be doing with Mohawk College supports our vision of producing the most advanced visualization application that is designed for everyday “industrial” use.
“The vGIS platform is an enabling technology for – and we hope, it’ll become the essential part of – the “Smart Cities” initiative. We’re excited to be a part of making our urban world a more productive and livable space.
“And we are thrilled to have an opportunity to tap into Mohawk College’s talent pool, while helping students apply their skills to gain valuable working experience”.
About Mohawk
Mohawk College educates and serves 30,000 full-time, part-time, apprenticeship and international students at three campuses and two City School locations at the Eva Rothwell Resource Centre and the Central Public Library in Hamilton, Ontario.
Mohawk has ranked first among all Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area colleges in student satisfaction for seven consecutive years and first in graduate satisfaction for the past four years.
Mohawk ranks 15th among all colleges in Canada for applied research activity and has been named among Canada’s greenest employers and the region’s top employers for the past three years.
About Meemim
Meemim Inc. (Toronto, ON) is a Visual GIS and knowledge-management platform vendor with expertise in data presentation and visualization.
Current applications, in addition to vGIS, include client customer service portals and the Meemim collaboration productivity suite for project management and small-team collaboration.
