InnerEarth (2011-)
INNEREARTH originates from the idea that our planet is not only around us but also within us. It is a groundbreaking virtual space that reimagines the planetary environment, where exploration, geolocation, games, and stories find new forms of expression and application. This unique concept allows users to engage with geospatial data in a 360-degree VR world, where your current location becomes the nadir and your antipode serves as the zenith.
What sets INNEREARTH apart is its conceptual innovation: the absence of a horizon. This departure from traditional maps, real-world perceptions, and even an astronaut’s view offers a completely new perspective. With this product, the Earth System’s teleconnections, patterns, cycles, flows, and synergies can be visualized and understood in their entirety.
INNEREARTH also leverages the power of the ‘Complex Algorithmic Spherical View.’ This technology enables locations to be rendered in street-level detail while distant regions are displayed in their full continental grandeur, providing a seamless and dynamic exploration of our interconnected planet.
Utilizing virtual reality for fostering planetary consciousness
As of 2021, only around 575 astronauts have experienced the profound perspective shift of viewing our planet from a distance, known as the 'Overview Effect.' This equates to roughly 1 person in every 13.6 million, making it an incredibly rare privilege.
Nevertheless, our world has never been more observable than it is today. Earth's imagery has become widespread in technologically-advanced societies due to the growing number of satellites that continually provide breathtaking and detailed images of our planet.
However, witnessing our homeworld on a small device is markedly different from actually being out in space. In this regard, virtual reality can contribute by not distancing us from Earth, but rather assisting in reconnecting us to patterns, synergies, processes, cycles, and scales that would otherwise be beyond our sensory grasp.
With this intention, we propose a concept we call 'InnerEarth'.
InnerEarth envisions a fully immersive environment that displays geographic information while employing virtual reality capabilities for storytelling and gamification.
Imagined in 2011, InnerEarth features the Complex Logarithmic Spherical View, a projection based on the groundbreaking Complex Logarithmic View developed by Dr. Joachim Böttger. It is a radical way of representing the planet across scales. It offers a detail-in-context view of our world, making possible to see local, regional, continental and global environments all at once, as part of the same perceptual spectrum.
A unique aspect of InnerEarth is the lack of a horizon.
Etymologically, the term "horizon" signifies a "dividing circle" – a boundary that separates the known from the unknown, requiring movement to explore, experience, and remember. Our everyday perception of planetarity, or the state of being embedded within a planetary system, is defined by a linear horizon.
When fortunate enough to view the horizon, whether from a vast flat expanse or a high point, our perception of the finite yet boundless world is still constrained by the planet's curvature.
At sea level, the horizon lies approximately 5 kilometers away. From the tallest skyscraper, it extends to around 100 kilometers. Atop Sagarmatha/Chomolungma (Mount Everest), the horizon reaches 336 kilometers.
However, when we lie on the ground to observe clouds or stars, the linear horizon transforms into a perceptually circular one. The boundlessness of space is encircled by the ground immediately surrounding us.
The astronaut's perspective serves as the perceptual equivalent of cloudgazing and stargazing.
The Earth's finite disk is bordered by the vast emptiness of space, spanning interplanetary, interstellar, and cosmological realms. However, a complete view of our planet hasn't been experienced for several decades, as astronautic activities have been limited to low orbits since Apollo 17 in 1972.
We are surrounded by depictions of globality, with maps and apps ubiquitous. Yet, the horizon issue persists. Regardless of their projections, maps have boundaries and globes have edges.
InnerEarth eliminates the horizon, presenting a distinctive perspective of enclosed planetary space. This convenient geographical representation, or planetary agora, facilitates seamless visual exploration of our Earthly environment across various scales.