{"posts":[{"id":16424,"title":"Recapping 12 incredible months","excerpt":"Build in a bear market. So goes the truncated mantra embraced by a web3\/crypto industry, currently weathering a long, cold winter. Of course, since 2019, when we launched the then \u2018OVR\u2019 app on the Google Play and Apple Store, we haven\u2019t stopped building. But it\u2019s fair to say that the past year has been one [&hellip;]","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Build in a bear market. So goes the truncated mantra embraced by a web3\/crypto industry, currently weathering a long, cold winter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Of course, since 2019, when we launched the then \u2018OVR\u2019 app on the Google Play and Apple Store, we haven\u2019t stopped building. But it\u2019s fair to say that the past year has been one of our busiest yet, in terms of new features, updates, collaborations and innovations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">As OVER prepares for its fifth anniversary in the augmented reality space, let\u2019s take a look through some of the biggest moments for the company in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>January<\/h2>\n<p><b>Reimagining the world around us<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We launched the Beta version of our mapping tool, the OVER Mapper which enables the accurate placement of digital assets\u2014far superior to GPS\u2014for the creation of augmented reality experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The OVER community quickly set to work mapping locations around the world, producing 3D Point Cloud visualizations (viewable in the OVER Marketplace) as well as fly-through videos or \u2018NeRFs\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Less than 12 months on from launch, close to 20,000 maps have already been made by the OVER community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Personalizing the spatial web<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Every single hexagon\u2014or \u2018OVER Land\u2019\u2014that makes up the digital layer is named using a trio of English words. We adopted this system to make the location coordinates easier to remember.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">With the launch of ENS Domains, owners of the more than 800,000 OVER Lands sold, are now able to personalize their properties with a name of their choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Augmenting the event space<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The OVER Gate Live Console allows event planners and DJs to host and control events in the OVER digital layer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Private users and companies can organize events such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Product presentations\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Meetings with remote employees<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Conferences<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">But it\u2019s with the integration of the Rokoko motion capture suits that the Console really takes off. Event hosts, like DJs, can effectively port themselves into the virtual scene\u2014every body movement and actions replicated in the AR ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>February<\/h2>\n<p><b>Thanks a million<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In February we hit one million registered users and celebrated with the launch of the 1 Million Gallery, which showcased highlights from the previous four years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We\u2019re immensely proud of this achievement and the work that has been done by the team and the community to bring this nascent ecosystem to life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">At time of writing the community has grown by another 200k, with no signs of slowing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>A home for creators<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">With more and more 3D designers, wearables creators, architects and gamemakers contributing to the OVER ecosystem, we decided to consolidate this creative talent pool into a formal community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The Creator Network allows OVER creatives to build a profile and add a portfolio of samples to show off their talents and potentially attract work. As part of the Marketplace, they can also use the platform to sell their assets for use by other creators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Realizing the dream of interoperability<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Having partnered with The Sandbox to bring its assets into our ecosystem, we collaborated with Decentraland to allow the creator community to publish avatar wearables on the OVER platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">To kick things off, we launched the Future Heritage Contest\u2014the first-ever cross-metaverse version of our popular \u2018ARwards\u2019 creator competition. With prize money totalling $10k USD worth of OVR tokens, shared between five finalists, the competition ran in conjunction with Decentraland\u2019s Metaverse Fashion Week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The five finalists would also have their creations displayed in a very special showcase\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>March<\/h2>\n<p><b>Taking OVER Milan<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We staged our own version of Metaverse Fashion Week, occupying Milan\u2019s iconic Piazza del Duomo for an AR catwalk. Joining us were PINKO, Balmain x Space Runners, Pet Liger and Ilona Song in collaboration with Vogue Singapore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Catch the highlights in this video from the event:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><b>Mappers are winners<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The first 10 earners from the OVER Mapper map2earn<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">TM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> rewards program were announced, sharing in $10,000 USD worth of OVER tokens. Entries were created with each approved map submission and were drawn randomly using Chainlink extraction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Considering what was to come in December, this was an inspiring moment, for both the community and the OVER team.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>April<\/h2>\n<p><b>OVER avatars join the AI race<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Using OVER\u2019s own open-source large language model (LLM), OVER avatars got a lot smarter in 2023. The start of an initiative to be rolled out significantly next year (stay tuned for our forthcoming preview of 2024), a select group of \u2018AvaStars\u2019\u2014Trisha, Brian and Cindy\u2014have been appearing in living rooms, offices and other environments around the world to converse with OVER app users.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Expect big things with our AI Avatar program over the next 6-12 months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>New era for the $OVR token<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We put forward a proposal to the OVER community to end the Initial Bond Curve Offering (IBCO), outlining the obvious <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overthereality.ai\/blog\/ibco-closing-proposal\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">advantages and disadvantages<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> of taking such an action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Voting for the proposal ended on 26th April, with more than 96% of votes in favor of closure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">It was a timely decision considering what was to happen just a few days later\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>May<\/h2>\n<p><b>SDK revamp<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We introduced a \u2018game-changing\u2019 update to the SDK, making content creation far more sophisticated, engaging and accessible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Understanding that getting started building on Unity is a tricky and time-consuming process, we released a games templates directory for the SDK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">This enables new creators to publish their first Unity-based AR game in just minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Penny drops, $OVR rises<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Despite Tim Cook\u2019s past bullish statements about augmented reality, it took the pending announcement of Apple\u2019s AR-capable headset for the market to suddenly realise that\u2026 wait\u2026 they\u2019re serious about this!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Interest in our token, the currency of the OVER ecosystem, spiked with the sort of market interest reminiscent of the salad days of 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">For the bros it was a feverish week of rocket emojis. For the team at OVER, it was validation of our hard work and long held belief that the future of the web is spatial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>June<\/h2>\n<p><b>A different Vision for the world<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Zero mention of the metaverse and the introduction of the term \u2018spatial computing\u2019 to the consumer lexicon. This was the mark-it-in-your-diary moment when Apple\u2019s new \u2018Vision\u2019 line of products was born.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The naysayers may have been primed with their withering assessments, but the excitement the Apple Vision Pro generated among the general public was undeniable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The second generation of the headset is already in planning (type \u2018Apple Project Alaska\u2019 into your search engine of choice) with other tech heavyweights scrambling to produce their own contenders to the crown.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Whichever one suits your needs and budget, OVER will be there.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>July<\/h2>\n<p><b>NFTs evolve to \u2018NFTrees\u2019<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We joined forces with Coorest, an organization that uses web3 technology to offset CO2 emissions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Coorest\u2019s \u2018NFTrees\u2019 were added to the OVER Marketplace for the community to buy and help minimize their carbon footprint. Every NFTree is linked to an actual tree that is planted by Coorest and monitored by Floodlight satellite.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Having shifted to the carbon-neutral Polygon chain, our partnership with Coorest is another positive step for OVER and the environment. Look out for more efforts on this front in 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Expanding horizons<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">A mid-year app update came with a number of advancements for the OVER Mapper, including the ability to customize the path of fly-through videos in 3D digital maps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Having introduced a competition for the best NeRF videos, we started to see some fantastic creations come through.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In addition to OVER Land and Mapper interfaces, we introduced contiguous lands or the joining together of multiple nearby lands to enable the creation of larger AR experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We also integrated controllable digital assets purchased from the OVER Marketplace\u2014like vehicles or robots\u2014allowing creators to add greater complexity and interactivity to AR games.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>August<\/h2>\n<p><b>Advancing the development of the user-owned metaverse<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">OVER joined the ranks of Web3\u2019s most established metaverse platforms when it signed up to OMA3 or the Open Metaverse Alliance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Already well advanced in its interoperability efforts, having collaborated with The Sandbox and Decentraland in bringing their assets to the platform, OVER will use its membership to seek other opportunities for collaboration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>September<\/h2>\n<p><b>Another leap forward for the spatial web<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Imagine you\u2019ve created an amazing AR experience\u2014a reconstruction of a gladiator fight inside the Colosseum, that can be experienced locally with AR. How do you share it with people who are not physically there?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">With the submission of a patent application for the real-time exploration of 3D locations, we took a giant step towards solving this problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">With just their smartphones users will be able to witness the gladiator fight and socialize with other spectators\u2014both locally AND remotely\u2014within the mapped stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">What this means is that AR and VR are no longer separate realms. The OVER Map of the Colosseum effectively bridges the gap between the physical and the virtual, whilst retaining the strengths of both AR and VR.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>OVER x PINKO<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In our second major collaboration of the year, OVER and PINKO came together at La Rinascente in Florence for an exclusive retail experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We supported PINKO and Miomojo\u2019s launch of a range of sustainable bags made from apple waste, with digital versions of products, displayed inside the brand\u2019s pop-up store, and later at an exclusive rooftop event.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">To promote the collaboration we devised and crafted a suitably juicy video:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>October<\/h2>\n<p><b>Taking control of the party<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We added major upgrades to our OVER Gate Live Console, giving DJs, musicians and event creators a number of powerful tools to enhance experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Key to the update was body tracking without the need for Rokoko motion tracking suits. Simply by activating a webcam or camera connected to their computer, users can bring their movements into the event.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The addition of speaker management and broadcasting of presentations onto screens <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">inside <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">virtual gatherings, upped the game for business customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>OVR extends its reach into the top 200<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Crypto market maker and intelligence firm Empirica published a liquidity report on the OVR token, placing it in the top 200 most liquid tokens\u2014number 169 to be precise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">About the ranking, Empirica analysts said, \u201cfor OVR investors, this translates to a very good trading environment. The liquidity surrounding OVR is robust, minimizing concerns about slippage, even for substantial trades.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>November<\/h2>\n<p><b>Map the World in 3D<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">November was all about our global initiative to Map the World in 3D.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The campaign opened at the start of the month, allowing people to apply to be one of the first to start mapping with the official launch in early December.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Applicants were drawn in by the opportunity to earn OVR tokens for their efforts, with multiple ways to win:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Direct payments\u2014based on the value of the mapped location<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Major prize draw<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Monthly prize draw<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 300\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Treasure hunt\u2014bonuses hidden randomly in completed maps\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We published a full breakdown of the rewards scheme <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overthereality.ai\/blog\/how-to-earn-rewards-when-you-map-the-world-in-3d\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>December<\/h2>\n<p><b>Mapping begins!<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">On December 11, the gates opened and those selected to be the first official OVER Mappers were released to start mapping the world in 3D.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The first wave will have access to locations with values attached to them as part of our map2earn<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">TM<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 300\"> rewards program. In addition to receiving direct payments for mapping, participants will also enter into prize draws and potentially find hidden $OVR tokens as part of a global treasure hunt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">We\u2019ll be building the initiative into 2024 and beyond, with the aim to create the largest Web3-based 3D recreation of the world. Think Google Maps but as AR-enabled digital twins that are made by the community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Jump in and\u2026 splat!<br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In what is a sneak preview of our patent-pending technology, we launched a browser-based real-time exploration of 3D maps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Users can now head to the OVER Marketplace, click on the Mappings section and select a freshly mapped location. A new button 3D JUMP IN will generate an explorable version of the 3D digital location. Simply use your mouse and keyboard to move around the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">You\u2019ll also notice a big change to the way the OVER Mapper renders video\u2014and explorable 3D maps. We\u2019ve shifted from NeRF to Gaussian Splatting, a visual rendering technique traditionally used in the medical and scientific fields to render images taken from multiple points of view.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">The benefit of Gaussian Splatting is that it is typically faster and delivers the same or better quality than NeRF rendering.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>And we\u2019re just getting warmed up\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">In the coming weeks we\u2019ll be releasing Part 2 of the OVERview\u2014our Roadmap for the coming year. Look out for further refinements, collaborations and activities that build upon our work in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Expectations for a gradual thawing for the Web3, metaverse and crypto industries should make for another compelling 12 months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300\">Based on the many technical features and integrations OVER has released this year, we look forward to 2024 with optimism and purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n","permalink":"recapping-12-incredible-months-3","date":"2024-01-04 00:00:00","image_small":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/recap-2023_1080x1920-150x150.jpg","image_medium":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/recap-2023_1080x1920-300x169.jpg","image_large":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/recap-2023_1080x1920-1024x576.jpg","image_full":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/recap-2023_1080x1920.jpg","single_url":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/zh\/recapping-12-incredible-months-3\/","translations":{"en":{"single_url":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/recapping-12-incredible-months\/","permalink":"recapping-12-incredible-months"},"fr":{"single_url":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/fr\/recapitulatif-de-12-mois-incroyables\/","permalink":"recapitulatif-de-12-mois-incroyables"},"es":{"single_url":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/es\/recapping-12-incredible-months-2\/","permalink":"recapping-12-incredible-months-2"},"tr":{"single_url":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/tr\/12-inanilmaz-ayin-ozeti\/","permalink":"12-inanilmaz-ayin-ozeti"},"zh":{"single_url":"https:\/\/blog.ovr.ai\/zh\/recapping-12-incredible-months-3\/","permalink":"recapping-12-incredible-months-3"}}}]}