[...]... users of virtual reality stress the relationship between the visualization and the engineering and design data The aim in using virtual reality as a medium is to better understand the built environment as a product and to gain insight into the processes of its construction and operation Virtual reality systems Virtual reality systems support the use of an interactive, spatial, real-time medium and are... shown in the next chapter, the early description of virtual reality – as though it was reality – has parallels with 12 Virtual Reality and the Built Environment early descriptions of other media We are beginning to learn more about the limitations of virtual reality as we gain wider experience of using it Other metaphors become more relevant We will discuss the use of virtual reality as an image and as... Reality and the Built Environment (Ijsselsteijn et al., 2000) The immersion and presence that they provide may be important for some built environment applications Some people argue that they are necessary for true virtual reality (Gigante, 1993) There is increasing interest in augmented and mixed real /virtual applications where the user can be simultaneously looking at virtual data and aware of their... look at what virtual reality is, how it has developed and how virtual reality models are created In Chapter 2 we will look at how virtual reality and other forms of representation are different from reality, and how these differences may be used in different tasks to illuminate hidden structure In Chapter 3 we explore the use of virtual reality within the project team and supply chain, for the engineering... institutions and planners These models may be quite different from those used by professionals working on the project 2 Virtual Reality and the Built Environment There are different priorities for creating and using models for these two purposes In later chapters we will explore these uses of virtual reality We will also look at how the same data is used and reused in models for both purposes The book... medium there is a focus on the virtual environment and the model created within the computer In contrast, when it is used to refer to the VR system the focus is on the hardware and software Virtual reality medium McLuhan explains that the “message” of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs’ (McLuhan, 1964: 8) Considering virtual reality. .. Considering virtual reality as a medium, our attention is focused on the representations within the medium and their implications, rather than the hardware and software of current computer systems Our interest is how people use and can use virtual reality in the design, production and management of the built environment As a medium, virtual reality has three defining characteristics It is: 1 interactive... use of virtual reality as a medium and as a system 8 Virtual Reality and the Built Environment Development of the virtual reality medium Virtual reality is changing the pace of human affairs but it is not doing this in isolation It can be seen in the context of longer-term historical trends The development of highquality glass in the fourteenth century has led to the world increasingly being viewed... create objects within the virtual environment They may or may not be able to change the parameters of objects and change the conditions in which they are viewed It is some degree of interaction that distinguishes virtual reality from animations and walkthroughs and some minimum interaction is required for a medium to be considered as virtual reality The minimum definition of virtual reality as medium –... organizations looking to use virtual reality, the way that different groups of staff interpret and use virtual reality affects their ability to obtain business benefit and to integrate use of virtual reality into the organization Development of the virtual reality system The nature of the VR systems through which we perceive interactive, spatial, real-time representations is changing There is a trend towards . between the visualization and the engineering and design data. The aim in using virtual reality as a medium is to better understand the built environment as a product and to gain insight into the. ‘visual simulation’ and ‘4D-CAD’. Use of the term virtual reality can direct attention to either the VR medium or the VR system. When the term is used to refer to the VR medium there is a focus on the virtual.