X3D Multi-user Virtual Environment Platform for Collaborative Spatial Design

It is well known that both space and the spatial organization play an important role in our work and learning environments as well as in everyday life. There is a definite need for many persons to design their space along with an expert and to preview it in order to test its functionality. Many times there is a need for the inhabitants and workers to collaborate in order to co-design their space from distance. Multi-user 3D virtual environments are a powerful form of collaborative telecommunication applications, enabling the users to share a common three dimensional space and interact with each other as well as with the environment surrounding them, in order to collaboratively solve problems or aid learning processes. This paper presents the work done for extending a multi-user virtual environments platform, to support collaborative spatial design applications. Furthermore, a usage scenario is presented concerning the collaborative design of a classroom for educational purposes.