http://www.s-world.biz/FaceBook/What_is_S-World_Virtual_World.htm
http://www.s-world.biz/FaceBook/S-World.TV.htm
http://www.s-world.biz/FaceBook/What_is_S-World_Virtual_Shopping_Network.htm

To summarize, we create a virtual world similar or even linked to “The Simms”, the difference being that S-World mirrors real life, and FaceBook members can teleport to the GPS coordinates of there friends.

They can also teleport to any rendered Accommodation Venue, have a good look around and book it direct with the venue. Or so they think!!!!!

Wahhh ha ha ha ha

It will seem like they are booking direct, they have the opportunity to speak directly to the hotel, and get the price from the hotel, and book with the hotel, no FaceBook Travel Agents or Reps. Direct customer to supplier booking. The only difference being, we will get between 30% and 50% of the money. And if suppliers receive 63% of online bookings and we are getting an average of 40% per booking, we are on road to an awful lot of profit. This will be the biggest profit centre of FaceBook Travel

I have been working on this for 11 years now; having created the world first Map based Virtual Tour in 2002, http://www.capevillas.com/CTG.shtml but now instead of a Virtual Tour we will use an interactive Virtual World.

From a travel perspective, a detailed 3D virtual world can not be beat, unless you make a personal visit.

From what I’ve ascertained so far, rendering costs are cheap. We start of with an overhead satellite view, which I’m sure can be easily converted into a floor plan showing the dimensions of the outside walls of the main building and additional buildings, the swimming pool, garden and landscaping, so one starts automatically with the outline. Then we need someone with a pen laser, to take the inside dimensions of the rooms. With the outside parameter already mapped and in the system, it will only take about a day to fully map the interior dimensions and windows of a 10 or so bedroom hotel.

As for the wall coverings, carpets, kitchens and furniture, well if you have ever played the Simms Virtual World 1 you will realise its a very easy thing to do, not 100% the same, but if we can hit over 80% accuracy every time, that’s a lot better representation that a set of photos or a Virtual Tour. Especially when you consider that what ever media is already available will be incorporated into our 3D Virtual Simulation, in a standard format, or displayed as one wanders through our Virtual Hotel, when one gets to the place where a real photo or panorama was taken, one can click an icon and have a look.

So for a 10 bedroom Hotel we are looking at 2 days work, one for the measurements and one for the rendering. These skills can be taught to anyone as an additional part of the “Tutorial Game” so our Reps can do the rendering, all be it all they will need to get from us is the pen laser.

So for the venue, we’re only looking at $400 or so, for a quality S-World presence (Which They Pay) plus our Reps have an additional source of income, it’s to every reps advantage to get rendering, as someone visiting the venue will be able to see whichever rep or agent rendered it. This rep or agent would be an obvious choice for further advice on that specific venue, so by rendering venues, agents and reps get more clients.

Of course that’s the minimum the venues needs to pay, venues have the opportunity to make much more concise representations. Maybe even a different type of rendering software all together. I like the Simms look, its fun, clean and simple. But there are more advanced rendering options. “The Thought Faqtory” for instance claims to have access to a bust VC Virtual World that cost $200M. Virtual World 2 the graphics here are less cartoony. I’d expect we could buy the entire project for about $5M or program something similar from scratch.

What I do want to see however, is the Big Hotels, Cruse Liners and Safaris, taking there S-World representation very seriously and investing in making an amazingly accurate and lush Virtual Representation of there accommodation. To the point where, you see an actual view out of every bedroom window, they can also mix in some games, a ski Chalet or Hotel will have the local ski routes already rendered and could offer a ski or sledge game for instance.

One thing to note is, accommodation venues don’t have to pay any physical money as such, instead they will just offer free bed nights, for us to sell on, (Barter) This makes it very easy for venues marketing departments to say yes, or even say... go mad, give me the works.

There are really so many, many possibilities, not least of which is for FaceBook to act as an Estate Agent should they wish to sell there Hotel or Chalet, but FaceBook Realty is another chapter in itself.

Rendering the World

At the same time as the venues are being mapped out and rendered, so will the surrounding location, beaches, tourist spots, walks, trails and the like. I expect after we have made a good example, we will have found many ways to incorporate rendering the world into many games so S-World really maps itself. Particularly if we adapt normal popular games to be played in S-World, this I hope will see, gamers rendering there local areas so non tourist spots start to get rendered. I can envisage an ODP (Open Source Directory Project) http://www.dmoz.org/ approach and assign people with specific areas to work on and keep up.

Also remember our reps will be motivated to render there favourite locations, activities and experiences. For instance my favourite experiences that I’d like to show guests would be Sienna Mountain, Chapman’s Peak and Lions Head. If I were to take on the responsibility and I rendered them, when ever anyone visited them in S-World, it would say that I was the renderer, and that may well lead to people contacting me.

The accommodation venues themselves will pay for there own rendering and the big ones will also see merit in mapping the surrounding attractions and experiences.

Individual houses will be rendered by realtors and FaceBook Real Estate Reps and individual home owners, over a 20 year period its possible most of the world’s houses will be rendered.

Local and National tourism boards will also see benefit in paying to render there prime locations.

S-World Virtual Business Network.

If you have not read through this page, please do so now. http://www.s-world.biz/FaceBook/What_is_S-World_Virtual_Shopping_Network.htm

First things first, there will be a FaceBook Travel shop at every tourism location.

And to the customer flow, first the client walks into the very good looking shop, then they choose a location, then they choose there privacy settings to filter between fun, lively, hands on agents and reps or more conservative & administrative representatives, there for advise and emergencies only.

Note: all Reps are on standby for all clients during there holiday, if a guest has picked a fun loving rep, but needs legal or medical advise, they can contact a specialised local rep in the area.

Next, up pops a list of reps and agents, who have set there computers of phones to say they are near there computer and welcome enquires. Then the client can further filter the agents in terms of there specific experience, fun loving, nature loving, family oriented etc. Once one has finished the filer process, they can see the profile and customer service ranking and choose there specific rep, and there timeliness in getting to the computer.

The client chooses, and an SMS is sent to the Rep, plus a pop up window on the Rep or Agent computer appears, the rep or agent gets to their computer, opens their client suite and starts a text or face to face conversation, advising the client of their personal opinions of the FaceBook recommended venues. This level of interaction will near certainly see a booking, all be it the client may go to two or three agents and ask them each, to put together the best package for them to look at, either way FaceBook Travel gets paid.

Further Reading:

Page 2: S-World.TV - Executive Summary

Page 3: 3D Village - Base camp -  Ko Samui

Page 4: S-World, 99 Questions & Answers.