How can Watson partner with humans in a rescue effort? IBM engaged our team to represent the time critical demands on a response team in the wake of a natural disaster hitting New York City. The experience simulates the impact and risks while illustrating the strategies available through Watson.

Our team developed new techniques for smoothly rendering a live, navigable, and interactive depiction of the city. Control over audience orientation within this model afforded unique immersive storytelling abilities. Interactive overlays added video, data, and other supportive UI to the experience. The audience—surrounded by 45 HD displays and spatial audio—experience both the micro and macro ends of disaster and recovery.

Effective recovery from a natural disaster begins before the disaster strikes and continues after the wind dies down and the flood waters recede. Unfortunately, gaps exist between preparation teams, first responders, and aid groups. Weather, traffic and social media data sets are underutilized as sources for both survival and recovery insight in the 96 hours following a disaster, the time period most critical to shaping recovery outcomes.

Combining APIs, Watson capabilities, and a multidimensional UI, responders can collect, analyze and process information in order to contribute to disaster recovery efforts more effectively. While framed as a disaster scenario, this multivalent functionality has cross-industry applications, providing solutions for the insurance sector, contact centers, and countless other players.