The “real-world metaverse” holds ample opportunity as indicated by a flood of online commentary. But stepping beyond blue-sky narratives about how this technology will change our lives and work, what’s the reality check about the rigor and underlying tech required to bring it to fruition?

Key Takeaways

Here are a few key messages or insights that we gleaned from this session.

• The “real-world metaverse” will be easier said than done. It requires lots of geo-anchored data before devices can activate digital content that’s relevant to physical places.
• There are a few ways to construct this data mesh, including visually mapping the world, crowdsourcing the process to users (as Niantic does), and utilizing existing infrastructure such as Street View imagery (as Google does) and satellite imagery (as Sturfee does).
• A comprehensive data mesh that enables the real-world metaverse will require all these solutions, given the comprehensiveness required for “planet-scale AR.”
• Other components will be required as the value chain develops. Supporting tech for the real-world metaverse will also include SEO. It will extend from today’s local SEO playbook in terms of being present and optimized for local searches.
• Businesses will want to likewise be present and optimized for visual searches, in terms of having all their meta-data (images, business details) provided to all the right channels (Read: Google).
• The real-world metaverse playbook will continue to develop as the technology itself does (it’s still early days). This will involve a combination of existing marketing strategies (again, SEO), and new/native tactics that develop.

Physical Places & Digital Spaces: Constructing the Real World Metaverse

Having digital content anchored to the places all around us is a compelling vision, but will take some work. What are the use cases and ingredients for a real-world metaverse?

Matt Lacuesta, Milestone Internet
Anil Cheriyadat, Sturfee