SuperViz Brings the Advantages of Real-World Meetings to Remote Collaboration Inside Matterport Digital Twins

A Matterport, Inc. Platform Partner, SuperViz offers a video conferencing tool that takes ‘single-player,’ immersive 3D spaces and makes them into collaborative ‘multi-player’ environments where participants can gather to discuss project-related issues, learn something, fix a problem, or sell things. Participants click to join with a simple web browser link and are instantly transported into a digital twin, accompanied by each participant’s webcam frame. Each participant has an avatar and laser pointer within the digital twin, plus access to chat and screen share functions.

“SuperViz leads the way in video conferencing for 3D spatial content. This is ideal for real estate-based businesses, such as architecture, design, retail, insurance, and other industries that want to collaborate in real-time when location is the subject,” says Russ Rive, CEO and Co-Founder of SuperViz.

For Rive, the most exciting thing about the popularization of metaverse-type experiences is not in the consumer-oriented social or gaming possibilities, but in the B2B opportunities that help accomplish tasks in real life. His vision withSuperViz is to use immersive digital twins with avatars as a business tool that helps companies drive efficiency and productivity.

Simple and functional avatars indicate where participants are and what they’re looking at in the digital twin. Together with the embedded video conferencing capabilities, the SuperViz platform delivers the feel of face-to-face communication as though people are really together in the space.

SuperViz provides a forum where the focus is on the space itself or items within that benefit from rich visual information. It's almost like we are creating a virtual teleport machine inside of a web browser, all based on a Matterport digital twin. We deliver the sensation of meeting with other people inside a space while giving them the digital tools they need to collaborate, solve challenges, and get work done,” says Rive. “SuperViz enables the metaverse with collaboration and developer tools utilizing Matterport digital twins, and our platform is gaining traction because there’s immense business value, real ROI.” 

Finding Construction Issues Earlier for Shorter Timelines and Increased Returns

Kallas Group, a real estate developer in São Paulo, Brazil, uses SuperViz to accelerate its construction projects in cities across the country. When the company can identify potential problems earlier in the process, it reduces project risk, making issues less expensive and quicker to resolve. 

Using SuperViz, Kallas Group brings plumbers, electricians, structural engineers, and other specialists into immersive, real-time virtual meetings during the validation phase of a design, so they can look around and identify any red flags. “Even participants who are not extremely computer literate can easily join SuperViz virtual meetings with a single click. Once inside, everyone benefits from the simple, intuitive interface to navigate their avatar, use their laser pointers to focus attention on particulars, or use popular Matterport-native tools like the measuring function” Rive says.

The platform is also helpful when a large group might need to squeeze into a small area, such as a bathroom, entry, or kitchen, which would be a challenge if everyone were together in the physical space. With SuperViz, every participant gets close-up simultaneous views of plumbing or electrical problems that need discussion. The meeting host can even ‘time travel’ by switching to an earlier digital twin or a pre-construction BIM file that includes plumbing and electrical information.

In the past year, Kallas Group saved over $2.5 million thanks to SuperViz-enabled early-issue remediation. In a recent study of 18 building projects for over 2,000 apartments where SuperViz was used, Kallas Group calculated an ROI of 300%. Kallas Group also noted an average construction cost savings of 1.7% due to maintenance and rework issues that were avoided.

“As Kallas Group observed, and in line with W.R. de Sitter’s ‘law of fives,’ an issue becomes increasingly more expensive to fix as a project progresses through construction phases. Changing the position of an electrical outlet, for example, might cost $1 in the design phase, $5 during prototyping, $25 after construction starts, or five times more if it’s even later in the process. When meetings on SuperViz can avert just one problem per year, investing in a subscription for $25 monthly per user is a smart business decision,” says Rive. “Kallas Group will see ROI rise significantly in future years after its upfront investments in hardware and program setup.”

“From the first validations, new uses for the models were identified with SuperViz, such as validation of walls and floors. Now our teams can compare results from design phase validations with the digital twin from Matterport, for cost savings and better use of assets. In addition, Kallas uses Matterport for virtual tours of our apartments,” says Ana Clara Gamarra, Innovation Specialist at Kallas Group.

Showcasing Merchandise Detail and Breadth                        

Ferguson, which operates nearly 250 bath, kitchen, and lighting showrooms across the U.S. and Canada, turned to SuperViz when it had to close its doors to customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the SuperViz platform, Ferguson salespeople could schedule online showroom visits with customers to discuss their project requirements together. 

The company found customers appreciated the convenience of engaging with experts to get face-to-face advice on products, designs, and specifications— all from the safety and comfort of home. High-resolution imagery and the ability to zoom in and guide clients through the digital twin enabled Ferguson to offer a ‘show and sell’ experience that replicated an in-store visit. Using SuperViz enabled sales agents to highlight unique products while helping clients feel confident in their purchasing decisions. Agents were able to accurately portray and demonstrate the vast selection of Ferguson’s merchandise, including beautiful displays of bronze, stainless steel, and chrome fixtures. “It’s important that customers don’t just see one faucet at a time like they would on a web page. By meeting within the digital twin of the showroom, they can view the entire wall of faucets and easily navigate the expansive showroom to appreciate the full breadth of merchandise available on display,” says Rive. 

SuperViz has received interest from other retailers wanting to better utilize their flagship stores for marketing, training, and other internal and external needs. One large retail chain is also exploring SuperViz usage for marketing staff who are based at corporate headquarters to meet with franchise owners. By meeting directly inside digital twins, the retailer can save travel time and money when conducting in-store compliance reviews on merchandising and branding directives.

“Whether it’s for a new store just opening or for ongoing operations, SuperViz provides a convenient way for teams to walk up and down the store aisles together,” Rive says. 

CSI: Austin with SuperViz Crime Scenes in the Curriculum

St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas uses SuperViz for its forensic science curriculum. The college prides itself on providing students with immersive, engaging experiences that replicate real-life scenarios they’ll encounter in their careers as crime scene investigators. In one course, the professor meets the class online within the digital twin of a mock crime scene, such as a hotel room where a body was found. 

Students access the staged environment using a computer and can click on hotspots with embedded photos and case information. The live presence of the professor enables her to visually point out particulars related to investigation techniques and data analysis as well address student questions about legal and ethical protocols, all in real-time.

The SuperViz platform is a valuable complement to the in-person simulations the department puts on, helping make a wider variety of crime scene types available for use in its courses at any time while alleviating the need to maintain as many physical simulation spaces on an ongoing basis. 

“The realistic portrayals of field environments help students improve their skills in crime scene sketching along with evidence documentation and processing. SuperViz advances the program’s goals to teach with a methodical, detail-oriented approach that engages students’ critical and creative thinking,” says Rive.

“I love that my students can be in an interactive environment with me.  It still allows for exploration of the topic being covered while spurring conversation and questions that may not arise from a standard PowerPoint lecture.  This has really helped to expand and challenge my pedagogical teaching platforms,” says Casie Parish Fisher, Chair, Department of Forensic Science, St. Edward's University

A Passport to Museums, Without the Travel

SuperViz is proud of its work with a cultural center in São Paulo, Itaú Cultural, that recently hosted a special video and art exhibition. By using the SuperViz meeting platform, teachers were able to schedule virtual field trips for their classes that included live interaction with the museum’s curator.

With SuperViz, teachers and students can see the other avatars around the gallery and perceive where people are looking and pointing. And they can instantly jump to where another is standing with a button click. The museum’s curator can also enable ‘follow me mode’ to keep a group navigating together through a space, while enabling each person to look around at the art installations from various perspectives.

“Everyone really liked how the SuperViz platform ratcheted up the experience, helping the curator connect with students synchronously to bring the exhibition to life,” says Rive.

Bringing Real Life Collaboration to the Metaverse

Inspired by the possibilities for bringing a sense of presence to remote work collaboration inside digital twins, SuperViz used Matterport developer tools to build its partner solution for a launch in late 2021. “Once we had the Matterport SDK, we were able to develop a working prototype within about two weeks. It was well documented, so it was easy to get up to speed and make the integration happen. Now, over time we’re working to make it even better,” Rive says. 

One enhancement SuperViz continues to improve for customers is activity reporting. The reports include data on who uses the tool to host meetings, how long meetings run, how many people participate in each meeting, and which spaces are most popular. SuperViz also offers meeting recordings, including the capability to record from the perspective of any of the participants. The company is looking into additional possibilities, such as using artificial intelligence to analyze conversations from the meeting and tracking sentiments.

Rive credits the Matterport ecosystem of photographers and service providers for creating a large addressable audience of partners and end customers. “We're getting a lot of interest from companies that use Matterport and other 3D cameras to capture digital twins, then want to use SuperViz to present their work to their clients. Many times the clients end up wanting SuperViz subscriptions to share their spaces with their own end customers,” says Rive. 

The SuperViz subscription model includes commissions for resellers. The approach is proving popular, with a doubling in subscribers over each of the past three months.

“Once you start using this metaverse-style collaboration in your work process, you keep using it, because it's so much more efficient. It’s great when you can get stuff done without catching a plane or driving across town. Even if you created a simulated reality to be 70% as good as if you were actually there for a meeting, that's amazing for business productivity,” says Rive.

SuperViz is a Matterport Platform Partner that leverages Matterport APIs and SDKs to build and commercialize apps and integrations with Matterport’s market-leading spatial data platform. As a Platform Partner, the company gains access to a range of commercial benefits, such as Matterport’s distribution network and enhanced support as well as co-marketing and co-selling programs to help successfully monetize its applications. To learn more about the Platform Partner Program and apply to join, visit https://matterport.com/platform-partner-program.

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ABOUT SUPERVIZ

SuperViz immersive video conferencing brings people together to meet and collaborate remotely with a sense of presence inside 3D content.

https://superviz.com/matterport/

Headquarters: United StatesProducts: Matterport SDKs and Matterport APIs

Results

• Saved over $2.5 million in one year for real estate development and construction firm

• Enhances online selling and merchandising for retailers

• Complements career training with realistic simulations

• Brings people together in immersive virtual meetings to improve collaboration and productivity