The folks from the Brooklyn Experimental Media Ensemble (BxmE for short) have created every budding civil engineer's dream: a version of Sim City for the real world. Betaville is an open-source 3D environment that allows multiple users to plan, design, architect and build structures and public works of art in cities that already exist. Despite the fact that you can't bring in aliens and monsters to destroy what you've created, the sites and cities are blank canvases developed so that individuals, small groups or businesses can work on projects in a web-based environment. Betaville can accept mock-ups and models from tools like Google Sketchup or from the more elaborate programs like Autodesk Maya. Betaville harps on community and collaboration, providing forums and message boards where users can easily comment and contribute to working projects at the stage where broad participation becomes effective in development processes. Want in on the action of urban planning and building cities? All you need to do is point your web browser in the right direction and let your imagination do the rest.
[Source: Betaville via Motherboard]
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