Spatial Computing Should Find A Welcoming Home in Oil and Gas

Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann

With Apple’s new Vision Pro hitting the news, and changing the perception of computing to include a spatial dimension, it’s worth reflecting on where and how this clever new technology could be used in oil and gas.

Apple’s latest product, spatial computing, is long on nifty and clever, but short on a must have new feature worth paying the price of a high end Mac Studio with a two hour battery life.

• Watch a movie in surround vision? Ok.

• Use your hands to manipulate apps instead of a mouse? Fine.

• Thrown an app into space and open it? Sure.

• Do a video call? Um.

During the launch, there was no obvious killer app for the masses, and nothing that compelling for business, and in particular the energy industry.

The energy world is not really about people. In fact, we spend enormous amounts of treasure trying to keep people from coming into contact with our products (fuels, electricity). For consumers, energy is just there, in the background, behind a light switch, or in response to a quarter turn of a key in an ignition. For energy suppliers, our world features many more machines, with complex interfaces, more regulations, more safety. But our house is definitely spatial.