Digital historical replicas
Introduction
Twinity is the first online 3D virtual world that creates scale replicas of major cities around the world. Twinity has been developed by Metaversum GmbH, a company located in Berlin, Germany. The program offers virtually exact virtual versions of real cities, classifying itself as a metaverse with “mirror world” characteristics. The beta, public and open phase began in September 2008 with the launch of the city of Berlin as Twinity's first virtual city, later followed by Singapore, London, Miami and New York.[2].
Cities created
Berlin
In September 2008, Berlin was the first virtual city to be opened.[3] The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, was virtually presented with the symbolic key to the virtual city.[4] The replica included around 20 kilometers of the city and more than 50,000 real buildings, which were copied into the virtual "Capital (political)") of Germany,[5] including monuments from the former East Berlin and West Berlin, such as the Telecommunications Tower. Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz and the Kurfürstendamm. The virtual visitor can also appreciate the historical importance of the city by visiting the virtual Berlin Wall museum,[6] which was inaugurated in November 2009 to commemorate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
In the virtual museum you can consult background information about the GDR, from the construction of the Wall to the German reunification process. Two months after the opening of the city of Berlin in Twinity,[7] the program reached 80,000 registered users.[8].
Singapore
In August 2009, Metaversum announced that the second city to be launched would be the virtual version of Singapore.[9] Metaversum received funding from the Media Development Authority of Singapore to create the city.[10] Singapore opened on August 9, with a grand celebration for Singapore National Day.[9] The first district in Singapore to be built was the area around the main avenue Orchard Road.
london
In December 2009, London arrived as the third city to be launched on Twinity.[11][12] Users can visit the famous Soho (London) district "Soho (London)", strolling along Oxford Street, down Trafalgar Square and through Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace and China Town "Chinatown (London)"). On April 30, 2009, Metaversum announced new areas of the city that would be added: West End, as well as The Strand, including the Millennium Bridge and Shakespeare's Globe theater (the latter two would be located on the south bank of the Thames).[13]