CitySpace was an internet-based virtual world

Virtual world

A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...

 launched at SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...

 1993 by educator and project director Zane Vella. CitySpace was one of the earliest online virtual 3D environments and first came to attention via mainstream news media in late 1993. CitySpace was also the first
user-generated

User-generated content

User generated content covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles...

 virtual world, similar to virtual worlds like Second Life

Second Life

Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

, and enabled participants to contribute 3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 and digital imagery to a collaborative real-time rendered 3D virtual world in which participants interacted with each other via avatars

Avatar (computing)

In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...

. CitySpace was active from 1993-1996 and won the 1996 NII Award for Arts and Entertainment.

Early CitySpace installations at the Boston Computer Museum (1993), Exploratorium

Exploratorium

The Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco with over 475 participatory exhibits, all of them made onsite, that mix science and art. It also aims to promote museums as informal education centers....

 (1994 and 1995) and Ontario Science Center (1995) combined educational computer graphics workshops and introduction to internet communications for young people ages 8 to 18. Both during and between CitySpace installations, contributors around the world collaborated via email and early internet video tools including CU-SeeMe

CU-SeeMe

CU-SeeMe is an Internet videoconferencing client. CU-SeeMe can make point to point video calls without a server or make multi-point calls through server software first called a "reflector" and later called a "conference server" or Multipoint Control Unit...

 to create avatars, buildings, vehicles and virtual toys.

CitySpace installations consisted of networked Silicon Graphics

Silicon Graphics

Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...

 Onyx Reality Engine

SGI Onyx

The SGI Onyx, code named Eveready and Terminator , is a series of visualization systems designed and manufactured by SGI, introduced in 1993 and offered in two models, deskside and rackmount. The Onyx's basic system architecture is based on the SGI Challenge servers, but with the notable inclusion...

 supercomputer

Supercomputer

A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...

s, Macintosh

Macintosh

The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

-based 3D modeling and graphics software, videoconferencing

Videoconferencing

Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...

 and data projection. The CitySpace software, written by Chris Cederwall of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory

Electronic Visualization Laboratory

The Electronic Visualization Laboratory is a cross-disciplinary research lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It brings together faculty and students from the Art and Computer Science departments of UIC...

, enabled real-time rendering, six degrees of avatar motion, text chat, and peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...

 communication between CitySpace clients for sharing avatar position information, chat content, and graphics updates.

In 1994 CitySpace was also featured in the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment

Cave Automatic Virtual Environment

A Cave Automatic Virtual Environment is an immersive virtual reality environment where projectors are directed to three, four, five or six of the walls of a room-sized cube...

 at the SIGGRAPH '94 VROOM event, a demonstration of the state of virtual reality technology.

Participants

The CitySpace project team included Coco Conn (producer), Zane Vella (director), Chris Cederwall (programmer), Jim Damiano (3D modeler), David Goldberg (educator), Ann Hess (mentor), Ole Lutjens (artist) and Jim Thompson (network guru).