Supranet
Encyclopedia
Supranet is a term coined at the turn of the 21st century by information technology analysis firm Gartner
to describe the fusion of the physical and the digital (‘virtual’) worlds.
, mobile communications, always-on connectivity, sensors and advanced human-computer interaction. In subsequent elaborations, it was extended to include electronic tagging (via, e.g., RFID), geotagging
and electronic geomapping (i.e., mapping internet coordinates to geodetic
coordinates), thereby completing the fusion of physical and virtual. (The first Gartner analyst to use the term Supranet might have been Geoff Johnson, who is also quoted using it in Computerworld, by Sue Bushell on July 24, 2000, in “M-commerce key to ubiquitous internet”)
The three seminal publications were , and .
• The increase of miniature intelligent devices, such as Microelectromechanical systems
or RFID tags, already numbered by the billions in 2001;
• The electronic coding of physical objects (from consumer goods to cars, from drugs to clothing, from banknotes and sheets of paper), which makes them all uniquely identifiable;
• The fact that all or most such objects will be networked via the wireless Internet (the "Internet of things
");
• The fact that all humans (or animals) carrying such objects will be networked and identifiable;
• The fact that the geographic location of many such entities (animals and physical objects) will be known with increasing precision;
• The fact that the planet’s surface will be mapped in the internet, either via ad-hoc GIS’s or in more-definitive ways such as the one consisting in assigning an IP address
to, e.g., every square meter on earth.
, Panoramio
or Picasa
, perhaps (although not necessarily) using GPS-enabled cameras. However, applications will be only limited by the users' imagination. It will be possible to attach electronic information to places, from the botanic description of plants on mountain trails to the projection of ancient Rome onto the actual vision of the current landscape from the Pincio; it will be possible for products to self-determine their paths along supply chains, and to auto-assemble; it will be possible to grow cyborgs resembling fiction characters. Moving across the three-dimensional physical space will match movements in the digital/virtual one, and vice versa. The threshold between space and cyberspace
blurs, and eventually it may even be unclear whether we are in one or in the other.
The concept of Supranet has been ever since talked about in the media, as well as used in scientific research and product development; one remarkable example of large-scale project heavily influenced by the Supranet is “Virtual Australia”.
In some of his subsequent works (such as), one of the original Gartner authors made it clear that there were several precursors to the concept of Supranet, crediting David Gelernter
, G.W. Fitzmaurice and J.C. Spohrer as the pioneers.
Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
to describe the fusion of the physical and the digital (‘virtual’) worlds.
History
At its inception, the term was alluding to the ongoing convergence of the internetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, mobile communications, always-on connectivity, sensors and advanced human-computer interaction. In subsequent elaborations, it was extended to include electronic tagging (via, e.g., RFID), geotagging
GeoTagging
Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as a geotagged photograph or video, websites, SMS messages, QR Codes or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata...
and electronic geomapping (i.e., mapping internet coordinates to geodetic
Geodesy
Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal...
coordinates), thereby completing the fusion of physical and virtual. (The first Gartner analyst to use the term Supranet might have been Geoff Johnson, who is also quoted using it in Computerworld, by Sue Bushell on July 24, 2000, in “M-commerce key to ubiquitous internet”)
The three seminal publications were , and .
Paradigm
Collectively, those publications anticipated the following trends, all subsumed under the ‘Supranet’ heading:• The increase of miniature intelligent devices, such as Microelectromechanical systems
Microelectromechanical systems
Microelectromechanical systems is the technology of very small mechanical devices driven by electricity; it merges at the nano-scale into nanoelectromechanical systems and nanotechnology...
or RFID tags, already numbered by the billions in 2001;
• The electronic coding of physical objects (from consumer goods to cars, from drugs to clothing, from banknotes and sheets of paper), which makes them all uniquely identifiable;
• The fact that all or most such objects will be networked via the wireless Internet (the "Internet of things
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things refers to uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure. The term Internet of Things was first used by Kevin Ashton in 1999. The concept of the Internet of Things first became popular through the Auto-ID Center and related...
");
• The fact that all humans (or animals) carrying such objects will be networked and identifiable;
• The fact that the geographic location of many such entities (animals and physical objects) will be known with increasing precision;
• The fact that the planet’s surface will be mapped in the internet, either via ad-hoc GIS’s or in more-definitive ways such as the one consisting in assigning an IP address
IP address
An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...
to, e.g., every square meter on earth.
Practical aspects
A practical common example of Supranet is photography geotagging, as it can be done in FlickrFlickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
, Panoramio
Panoramio
Panoramio is a geolocation-oriented photo sharing website. Accepted photos uploaded to the site can be accessed as a layer in Google Earth and Google Maps, with new photos being added at the end of every month. The site's goal is to allow Google Earth users to learn more about a given area by...
or Picasa
Picasa
Picasa is an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by Idealab in 2002 and owned by Google since 2004. "Picasa" is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa for "my...
, perhaps (although not necessarily) using GPS-enabled cameras. However, applications will be only limited by the users' imagination. It will be possible to attach electronic information to places, from the botanic description of plants on mountain trails to the projection of ancient Rome onto the actual vision of the current landscape from the Pincio; it will be possible for products to self-determine their paths along supply chains, and to auto-assemble; it will be possible to grow cyborgs resembling fiction characters. Moving across the three-dimensional physical space will match movements in the digital/virtual one, and vice versa. The threshold between space and cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
blurs, and eventually it may even be unclear whether we are in one or in the other.
The concept of Supranet has been ever since talked about in the media, as well as used in scientific research and product development; one remarkable example of large-scale project heavily influenced by the Supranet is “Virtual Australia”.
In some of his subsequent works (such as), one of the original Gartner authors made it clear that there were several precursors to the concept of Supranet, crediting David Gelernter
David Gelernter
David Hillel Gelernter is a professor of computer science at Yale University. In the 1980s, he made seminal contributions to the field of parallel computation, specifically the tuple space coordination model, as embodied by the Linda programming system...
, G.W. Fitzmaurice and J.C. Spohrer as the pioneers.
See also
- Augmented realityAugmented realityAugmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...
- Augmented virtualityAugmented virtualityAugmented virtuality refers to the merging of real world objects into virtual worlds.As an intermediate case in the Virtuality Continuum, it refers to predominantly virtual spaces, where physical elements, e.g. physical objects or people, are dynamically integrated into, and can interact with the...
- HolodeckHolodeckA holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
- InternetInternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
- Internet of thingsInternet of ThingsThe Internet of Things refers to uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure. The term Internet of Things was first used by Kevin Ashton in 1999. The concept of the Internet of Things first became popular through the Auto-ID Center and related...
- Mixed realityMixed realityMixed reality refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time...
- Simulated realitySimulated realitySimulated reality is the proposition that reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation....
- Ubiquitous computingUbiquitous computingUbiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems...
- Utility fogUtility fogUtility fog is a hypothetical collection of tiny robots that can replicate a physical structure. As such, it is a form of self-reconfiguring modular robotics.-Conception:...
- Virtuality ContinuumVirtuality Continuumthumb|right|400px|Reality-Virtuality Continuum.The Virtuality Continuum is a phrase used to describe a concept that there is a continuous scale ranging between the completely virtual, a Virtuality, and the completely real: Reality. The reality-virtuality continuum therefore encompasses all possible...
- Virtual realityVirtual realityVirtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...