Surround Yourself With Data in VR

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There’s a lot of data out there. The vast amounts of data being collected have even led to an aptly named industry: big data. 

In 2018, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data—that’s 2,500,000,000,000,000,000—were being created every single day, and that number has only grown in the last three years. 

Drilling rigs alone are each estimated to produce more than 1 terabyte of data per day, roughly the equivalent of streaming around 400 hours of high-definition video.

Enterprises are collecting massive amounts of data, more than human analysts can sift through, interpret, and use. Executives self-report that less than 50% of data collected in their organizations is being used in decision-making. 

Those numbers are a bit optimistic. According to McKinsey, after studying sensors on rigs around the world, the management consulting firm found that less than 1 percent of the information gathered from about 30,000 separate data points was being made available to the people in the industry who make decisions.

To leverage the data being collected, it needs to be easier to analyze and interpret so it’s not just data scientists who can do the heavy lifting. 

Virtual reality (VR) is doing just that—helping users visualize and interact with data in 3D to go beyond basic charts, graphs, and tables. Together, VR and artificial intelligence (AI) can transform data analytics in an organization and democratize analysis capabilities.

Increased adoption of AR/VR technology for data analysis is accelerating thanks to the many benefits:

  • Users can see everything at once, allowing a holistic view of the data that’s impossible with traditional data visualization.

  • Immersion in a data representation makes it possible to communicate data attributes in numerous positions.

  • Multiple stakeholders from around the globe can interact with and analyze the data simultaneously and remotely.

  • More data can be displayed at once, compared to a 2D representation, which can allow faster cognitive processing. The human brain processes information faster when it’s presented in multiple dimensions and can even build structures up to 11 dimensions. 

  • Immersion technology with help from artificial intelligence and machine learning can open up advanced data analytics to users who aren’t data scientists.

  • Being immersed in the data can help users focus on analysis without being distracted by those email pings and Facebook notifications. 

  • AR and VR can make data analysis more fun. No more, “Oh man, I have to review spreadsheets.” It’ll be, “Oh boy, I get to don the smart and glasses and surround myself with data!”

Immersive Data Analytics In Action

3Data gives enterprise IT and cybersecurity teams a 360-degree view of networks and operations.

Arvizio's XR platform provides advanced 3D visualization for multi-user and multi-site shared mixed reality experience of CAD, BIM, 3D scan, and LiDAR point clouds. 

BadVR, an immersive analytics platform, makes it easier to get value from data without special training. They’re helping telecom companies analyze signal strength in real time and working to fight climate change and battle forest fires.

Cognitive3D records, measures, aggregates, and analyzes data from VR, AR, and MR experiences to help brands develop better products, understand spaces in new ways, and carry out training with clearer results.

D6 VR helps enterprises use data, AI, and VR for more effective and efficient information analysis.

Virtualitics helps enterprises deploy AR data visualization with the goal of helping them get actionable insights more quickly. Kuehne+Nagel is working with Virtualitics to use AR, AI, and digital twins to make sense of massive amounts of supply chain data. 

UrsaLeo enables companies to visualize operational data from sensors, assets databases, and other IoT systems on a 3D model. 

These platforms are helping enterprises get more value from and make better decisions with their data. Which is good because valuable data is all around us...literally.