Back to the present. (editor's note).(Siggraph)(Editorial)

In years past, the Siggraph convention has been a forum for visionaries to speculate wildly about futuristic technologies and applications. But this year, the futurists were decidedly more interested In the present. Nowhere was this more evident than at a panel discussion titled "The Future of Computer Graphics," during which the speakers focused on innovative ways current graphics technologies could be applied here and now to serve our interests.

To illustrate the range of development opportunities, the presenters--most notably novelist and consultant Andrew Glassner--outlined several creative ways computer graphics technology "that's roughly available today" could be applied in everyday situations. Some intriguing ideas included the following:

Windows on the world: Many of us live and work in buildings that don't have as many windows or the kind of views that we'd like. To compensate, developers could install high-resolution displays in our walls and connect them to servers posting live images from rainforests, mountain ranges, coral reefs, satellites, telescopes, spacecraft, and the like. That way, we could look out on virtually any scene we choose.

Where's Waldo? Suppose you're in a crowded place or at a concert or event, and you want to locate family members or friends. Special glasses could be developed with displays that are tuned to sensors that track the wearers' locations and highlight them in your field of view.

You go there: Some of us have used interactive, "you-ree-here" maps in large buildings or institutions that highlight the route we would take to get front one place to another. But once we walk away, we still have to remember where we're supposed to go. The displays in our special glasses could be connected to maze-solving systems that would find the best route and show us each ...