News: Taqtile's HoloMaps Gives HoloLens Users Ability to View, Scale & Draw on 3D Maps

HoloMaps, an application by Seattle-based Taqtile, is available for free on the Windows Store. Taqtile, whose Vice President of Product Management was Microsoft's former Director of Business Development, is one of the few partners currently in the Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program. This interactive 3D map they have created, powered by Bing, offers more than just a top-down view of the world on the HoloLens.

Presently, HoloMaps has the ability to use various layers of data, such as current traffic flow and conditions, live weather and forecasts, and even geotagged tweets. A 3D pen allows the users in a workspace to draw on these maps, share those changes in real time with each other. Overall, this system appears to help enable a highly collaborative work environment.

It's pretty easy to speculate that the HoloMaps application is built directly off of the work that Taqtile has shown off previously. Their name came up in mid-2016 when they demoed an application they made in partnership with the PGA Tour. This application, also powered by Bing, allowed the user to see specific details about the golf course of choice, information about the players, and the arc of every single shot in a particular contest.

As applications such as HoloMaps grow, and various use-cases become more apparent, the interaction of data will become more elaborate. Just imagine a future in which we see civil engineering from the perspective of a Sim City-type of application; City planners can use it to find and thoroughly test the pitfalls of designs before putting those plans into action. With something like HoloMaps, the testing environment becomes a far more accurate place.

Taqtile is building from a solid foundation. With the unique direction Microsoft HoloLens offers in presenting different types of information, we should see a good deal more coming from HoloMaps in the future.

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