what about virtual tourism to vastly widen the VR audience?

[blazespinnaker]

+1 for virtual tourism in today's world versus some historical version.

I'd love to go on a walking tour of today's Venice by just putting the Rift on.

[geekmaster]

This Virtual Tourism will be great, until somebody does a mashup of Virtual Tourism (with accurate satellite-based terrain), with a First Person Shooter.

When it becomes a popular online shared-experience (like Second Life), a virtual shooting spree with a BFG in a crowded VR "Vacation Destination" would make for a noteworthy news item... Look for future headlines like "This brings new meaning to the phrase "Tourist Trap"!".

If you think this is unlikely, an early version of this scenario has already happened at Manchester Cathedral (starting a "Major Controversy"):

[youtube-hd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BvcMhrnCIw[/youtube-hd]

We already see some politicians targetting "Violence in Video Games" during the current debate on Gun Control (real and virtual). Making the experience even more immersive with the Oculus Rift, and making it a shared online experience, is sure to draw attention to itself from these politicians (and journalists wanting something new to sensationalize).

We can expect "Take Down Notices" and claims of "Theft of Intellectual Property" by the owners of the physical property that was modelled in the game. This will cause even further erosion of our rights to Free Speech, Fair Use, and Public Domain, just like the big media moguls want. Ironically, it was a media company (Sony) that got sued in the above video example.

[Popopinsel]

I also had some ideas for VR tourism. I thought of a hexacopter or drone with a 360° spherical stereoscopic HD video camera attached to it, with GPS and 3G/4G data connection. You could then control the drone over the internet. The video could be compressed with the new HEVC/H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding) for streaming.

Imagine flying such drones in certain cities or other points of interest. This could grow whole new local businesses for tourism. You could explore the Niagara Falls in 3D VR from your PC at home!

[geekmaster]

... Imagine flying such drones in certain cities or other points of interest. This could grow whole new local businesses for tourism. You could explore the Niagara Falls in 3D VR from your PC at home!

Not in the USA. There are laws preventing the use of video from drone-mounted cameras for commercial use. And the laws for personal use are also becoming far more restrictive (plane must be kept in line-of-sight, and below a 400 foot ceiling). Some states have proposed laws making POSESSION of a "drone" aircraft a criminal FELONY!
http://www.leg.state.or.us/13reg/measur ... intro.html

77th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session
Senate Bill 71
...
Imposes restrictions on use of drones by private parties and
public entities. Creates various crimes for unauthorized use of
drones. Punishes by maximum of 20 years' imprisonment, $375,000
fine, or both.
...
Relating to drones; and declaring an emergency.
...
(2) A person who possesses or controls a drone in violation of
subsection (1) of this section commits a Class B misdemeanor.
(3) A person who possesses or controls a drone in violation of
subsection (1) of this section and uses the drone to capture an
image of a person or object on the ground or in the air commits a
Class A misdemeanor.
...
(4) A person who possesses or controls a drone in violation of
subsection (1) of this section and uses the drone to fire a
bullet or other projectile commits a Class C felony.
(5) A person who possesses or controls a drone for the purpose
of hunting or stalking game commits a Class C felony.[/b]

In this bill, a DRONE is classified as any remotely operated vehicle (including FPV or other r/c flying vehicles). Sadly, this proposed language would include firing ANY projectile (such as airsoft plastic pellets or Nerf missiles) as a felony. Also, the idea of "stalking game" could be broadly applied. And just taking a PHOTO from a drone is a MISDEMEANOR? Really? Are they really so paranoid as to declare an immediate State of Emergency? The answer appears to be "YES!"


Of course, we could MODEL such virtual tourism, until that gets shut down too (see my previous post above). Based on current and proposed laws, any photos used to make these models that are to be taken from the air would have to be from private or commercial aircraft (not from a drone) to be legal.

[zeroxygen]

I don't need my neighbors looking through my windows at my kids. Keep the laws.

Have to consider that doing something in an empty field in the middle of nowhere is a lot different than doing something in the middle of town among a couple million people.

[geekmaster]

I don't need my neighbors looking through my windows at my kids. Keep the laws.

Have to consider that doing something in an empty field in the middle of nowhere is a lot different than doing something in the middle of town among a couple million people.

Your nosy neighbors can ALREADY look through your windows unless you keep the window blinds or drapes closed. A drone lets people OTHER than your neighbors spy on you (especially while wearing a tinfoil hat). The problem with these laws is that they are TOO BROAD, making FPV even in an open field potentially illegal. There are MANY examples of authorities pushing laws WAY BEYOND their intended limits, and vague wording lets them do that. A recent example is what the feds did to Aaron Swartz, driving him to commit suicide.

Now my REAL worry is not so much a loss of privacy (which could be solved just by closing the window blinds or removing your tinfoil hat), but rather what I *AM* worried about is this: What if I forget to close the blinds and a nosy neighbor spots me playing a FPS game with a scary looking "toy gun" in my hands. When they call the police, when I have my Rift covering my eyes and the sound cranked up, will I hear the SWAT team that broke down my door shout "Drop the weapon!" before they open fire?


How much of a potential threat would the SWAT team consider THIS controller (which has game buttons on the pistol grip, and "high capacity" ammo clips can be swapped in-game just like a real weapon):
[youtube-hd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfO2b6nQzPs[/youtube-hd]

Perhaps we need to hang a notice on the door for the SWAT team, saying that our gun is not real? Or maybe paint it BLAZE ORANGE (or at least the tip, like a modern toy gun). But what about after the criminals start painting their REAL guns blaze orange?


You just KNOW that virtual tourism hacks WITH guns is inevitable, so how do we deal with it?

[brantlew]

I also had some ideas for VR tourism. I thought of a hexacopter or drone with a 360° spherical stereoscopic HD video camera attached to it, with GPS and 3G/4G data connection. You could then control the drone over the internet. The video could be compressed with the new HEVC/H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding) for streaming.

Imagine flying such drones in certain cities or other points of interest. This could grow whole new local businesses for tourism. You could explore the Niagara Falls in 3D VR from your PC at home!

Good idea. This would be considered "telepresence" tourism.

[geekmaster]

I also had some ideas for VR tourism. I thought of a hexacopter or drone with a 360° spherical stereoscopic HD video camera attached to it, with GPS and 3G/4G data connection. You could then control the drone over the internet. The video could be compressed with the new HEVC/H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding) for streaming.

Imagine flying such drones in certain cities or other points of interest. This could grow whole new local businesses for tourism. You could explore the Niagara Falls in 3D VR from your PC at home!

Good idea. This would be considered "telepresence" tourism.

Unless the laws get changed (for the better) here in the USA, you cannot use a FLYING drone for this. However, using a ground-based drone may still be okay for awhile, until that too becomes an issue. Just look at how upset some governments got about "privacy violations" regarding Google "Street View"...

Beware that some authorities consider the act of operating a telepresence robot in an unauthorized location as spying (or espionage). A popular FPV enthusiast had his equipment confiscated and was deported back to Israel for "spying" over a National Park, when he posted his video to youtube. Things like this can happen to all of us unexpectedly, especially when our new hobbies scare people who wear tinfoil hats, or who are just waiting for an excuse to extend their authority and power.