The idea of S-World is an on line 3DVirtual World that mirrors earth, a less advanced version of V-World if you have seen Caprica, a more advanced version of the Simms if you have not.

I don’t know either of those?

Hmmm, ok, think of your favorite holiday spot, for example I’ll use Camps Bay Beachfront, in Cape Town. Now imagine you are physically there.

Hold on, first let me back track a little to illustrate how it would work inside FaceBook

OK

First we add a FBS-World tab, somewhere under your Profile pic. When it’s clicked, within the FaceBook page, a map of the world appears, showing you where all your friends are or groups of friends if you prefer.

How is that possible?

Simple, we make an application for Blackberry and other phones that turns on the GPS so it can be displayed in S-World. So it shows exactly where you are.

I’m not sure I want everyone to know where I am all the time.

Then you can just set it to 1KM or 10KM whatever, makes you happy.

Ok that’s better, I could live with that, I can turn it off at any time right?

Yes, it will be very simple to use.

I like it; I can see where my friends are all over the world ? what next.

Then, you teleport into S-World.

Teleport…..?

Yes, say your best friend is in London and they want to teleport to you in Cape Town, and your FaceBook GPS is set to exact positioning, they simply click on your icon and suddenly on the screen they see a very detailed 3D simulation of Camps Bay Beach, from exactly where your standing, you can walk around, look in all directions, they can see exactly what you see but in 3D graphics. If you walk over to a park bench, you can sit together.

Sit together, how?

You both have Avatars, computer generated figures, like any person or animal, you have seen in any computer game, or animated TV show.

Animal?

Yes you can look just like yourself, or you can look like a Kangaroo cos your in a bouncy mood, whatever you feel comfortable with, you can have different avatars for your different moods, your friend can say, “I’m glad to see your very Kangaroo today” :)

What else can I do?

Well just about everything, you can walk along the beach with your friend then maybe park off in a beach bar, then do a little sight seeing, take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, visit Robben Island, Go to Cape Point, even see Sienna Mountain
.
Similar to Google Maps Street View?

No, way more advanced, Google Maps is in essence a Virtual Tour, we were doing that back in 2002 look at http://www.capevillas.com/CTG.shtml Virtual tours are two dimensional, you can only look around from where the photographer took the photograph, and you can’t add Avatars. In S-World all the popular locations will be rendered then simulated in 3D so you can freely walk around and look at sights from any angle you choose.

Surely that will cost a fortune?

Not really, for outside areas the basic dimensions and placement of trees etc can be taken from satellite maps, and then we get a human to wander around highlighting other aspects. The idea for S-World like all the software is that it’s incredibly simply to use, I hope to work with Simms in which case its most likely Game Players will enjoy updating there local areas as a part of the Game, Simms World….. S-World, There are many awesome game ideas to make S-World really entertaining.

What if the Simms are not interested, how will you pay for all this then?

Well a combination of, Real Estate companies, Accommodation venues and Regional and country wide Tourism boards.

Regional and country wide Tourism boards?

I expect so, firstly we will have to pick a place to start, probably Cape Town, maybe LA. We will render these places at our own cost. Considering the PR plans and the time it will take us to program the software then render the City there will be quite some hype with FaceBook users to finally see and use FBS-World. This will mean Millions upon Millions of people will look at Cape Town, not just the beaches, but the mountains and other attractions. That sort of exposure for Cape Town is bound to increase tourism, and it’s highly likely other tourism destinations local tourism boards will see merit it paying to render their Cities.

Ok, I can see that makes sense, you also mentioned Accommodation Venues?

Yes, say you have teleported to Cape Town, looked around and decided you wish to visit; you can have a really good look at all the different accommodation options, before you visit. On one hand, to look at all the cool stuff, but on the other, to avoid possible disappointment.

Disappointment?

Yes, location is a large factor when traveling, if one does not wish to hire a car or spend lots of money on taxis, you can see which Hotels or Villas are positioned where you would like to stay, if you wish a beach holiday, you look at hotels near a popular beach.

Another example is Child Friendliness, is the swimming pool easily accessible by toddlers, a further example is the view, not only from the public use areas but from your room.

It will be that detailed?

Oh yes and more so, as you wander around, you will be able to see picture icons to see actual photographs taken from the spot you are standing in, and a whole portfolio of facilities will be available, even down to the menu.

Wow, would definitely use S-World to plan my next holiday, especially considering, my FaceBook travel agent, lives locally and can offer first hand information.

Yes S-World was originally designed for tourism, on the introduction letter to FaceBook I have made a bold claim that within a few years FaceBook and S-World combined with the travel agents that join us will have 23.5% market share in all tourism within 3 or 4 years

A bold claim, but realistic I suppose considering half the travellers profit goes to good causes and prices will be competitive. So what you are saying is the Accommodation Venues will pay for there own rendering.

Yes, and starting at $200 or so for a 8 bedroom Hotel, the cost is negligible, of course the bigger Hotels will probably wish to really go to town.

You mentioned Real Estate.

Oh yes, and whist S-World was originally designed for Travel, its Real Estate possibilities are incredible, to render an average 4 bedroom house in 3D will cost under $100. From there we make a Virtual Portfolio within it, as one wanders through the house, one see’s photo and video icons that show real photo’s and videos from the point they were taken. Further to this all sorts of other information can be stored.

1. Original builders notes
2. Electrical and plumbing lines
3. Architects drawings
4. Interview with the Architect
5. Interview with owners and agents
6. Reviews in Magazines
7. TV features on the home
8. Virtual Tours
9. Guest reviews and more

In essence a complete property portfolio, that will revolutionize how properties are displayed on the web, useful for Villa Rental Agents, Travel agents and Realtors alike.

Wow that’s a lot of information; do you think people will actually buy a house directly from S-World?

Sometimes, I’ve seen houses purchased just from a 2 page spread in a magazine we made, but I think its real value is in working out which houses not to buy, and giving the potential purchaser, the opportunity to look at 50 or so houses in a few hours, making a shortlist of 3 or 4 which are most suitable. Take it from someone who knows the industry, the more research the better, I used to advise clients that wished to buy a house to go to every estate agent possible and spend a day with each, now one can do a weeks work in a few hours.

That really makes sense, will it completely revolutionize the property industry?

Yes, and property development more so, this is covered later in “Global Economic Recovery”