Spatial web: Breaking the last barriers between the physical and digital worlds

• Author:
• Author name

  Quantumrun Foresight
• July 27, 2022

Insight summary

The spatial web, or Web 3.0, is transforming the Internet into an integrated realm where the digital, physical, and virtual worlds converge. This evolution fosters enhanced communication, collaboration, and accessibility, allowing seamless interaction and creating opportunities in industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation. The technology's widespread implications include optimizing production, advancing medical procedures, and innovating home automation and content creation.

Spatial web context

The spatial web, also known as Web 3.0, is a term used to describe the next generation of the Internet that goes beyond the World Wide Web. It comprises interconnected people, places, and things digitized and brought into the virtual world. It is a new kind of network that requires a more dynamic code to bring it to life.

Spatial web is a term that describes the next evolution in computing and information technology. Unlike the current Web 2.0, which is characterized by static digital content separate from the physical world, the spatial web will see a convergence of technologies that will eliminate the boundary between digital and material objects. This vision will be realized through augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), advanced networking, geolocation, IoT (Internet of Things) devices and sensors, distributed ledger technology (e.g., blockchain), and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML). Many early-stage applications already provide significant potential, even if it may take five to 10 years for the technology to develop fully.

The spatial web comprises three essential components: the digital, the physical, and the virtual. The digital refers to all the data and information stored in digital form. The physical refers to all the objects and places in the real world that have been digitized. The virtual refers to all the items and locations in the online environment that have been digitized. These components are seamlessly integrated in the spatial web. People’s virtual counterparts will be able to interact in the digital world, and objects and places can be transported back and forth between the two worlds.

Disruptive impact

The spatial web will facilitate enhanced communication and connectivity, as people will be able to interact with each other in more ways than ever before. They can seamlessly switch communications from the physical to the virtual and vice versa, or simultaneously. There’s also increased efficiency as people will no longer need to physically travel to a location to access information, transactions, and other services. Improved collaboration is another by-product of the spatial web, as people can work together on projects from anywhere in the world without any of the screen barriers that have led to online fatigue. Finally, there’s greater accessibility for people with disabilities, as the spatial web will open up opportunities for them to interact in ways that might not be physically possible.

Spatial computing is at the heart of these possibilities. It refers to everything VR and AR apps do, including digitizing objects that connect via the cloud, allowing sensors and motors to react to one another, and digitally representing the real world. Spatial computing will soon bring human-machine and machine-machine interactions to new levels of efficiency in smart homes and workplaces and in various industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation. 

One of the more promising possibilities in the spatial web is the “digital twin” created through computer-aided design (CAD), where engineers make a digital representation of an object. This twin can be used to 3D-print the object, design new versions of it, provide virtual training, or join it with other digital entities to create virtual worlds. Spatial computing makes digital twins not just of objects but of people and locations—using GPS, lidar (light detection and ranging), video, and other geolocation technologies to create a digital map of a room, a building, or a city. Software algorithms integrate this digital map with sensor data and digital representations of objects and people to create an online world that can be observed, quantified, and manipulated. In future decades, people will use AR and VR both to view digital content, as well as interact with it naturally and intuitively. 

Implications of spatial web

Wider implications of the spatial web may include: 

• Spatial computing used to track the movements of workers and machines on factory floors, thereby optimizing production line layouts or providing increasingly tailored VR training for employees.
• Healthcare networks enabling surgeons to more effectively plan complex operations, provide remote assistance to doctors in rural areas, or even allow patients to consult with specialists from their homes.
• The communication of more accurate, real-time traffic information to commuters, as well as the enhanced management of autonomous vehicle fleets and air traffic.
• Enhanced consumer control of domestic heating and lighting, energy use monitoring, and enhanced home security.
• Content creators and brands relying on the spatial web to create AR/VR content that will replace today’s social media strategies.
• New legislation that administrates the collection, storage, and utilization of data used to enable spatial web applications.

Questions to consider

• How else do you think the spatial web will change how you consume information and entertainment?
• What is/might this technology be applied in your company or industry?