WRLD and the CDC have joined hands to simulate COVID transmission pathways on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship in order to understand the spread of viruses in closed spaces and re-design spaces to mitigate spread. Using the WRLD platform, the two organizations have carefully studied the spread of the virus aboard the Diamond Princess, the 16 year old luxury cruise vessel that was stuck in quarantine in Japan with more than 3,700 people on board. Hundreds of those people became sick and were confined to their cabins. At that point in time, the Diamond Princess was the second most affected place after China, as it became the hotbed of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

WRLD and CDC’s learnings will be applied to similar real-world situations in order to establish preventive plans and measures to stop infectious diseases from spreading on cruise ships in similar conditions. The aim will also be to study the nature of the virus in general to monitor its behaviour.

It is hoped that this study will help the beleaguered cruise ship industry back on its feet quicker than expected by ensuring a safe and hazard free environment for travellers.

The WRLD platform provides users with all the tools and services they need to build interactive, location-aware experiences for web, mobile, and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR). With custom built map design tools and cross-platform software development kits (SDKs), users can create responsive and engaging apps and programs. WRLD 3D maps are built using high-quality geographic data so that users can create 3D visualizations, run simulations, and develop dynamic location-based experiences and gamification apps. WRLD helps users visualize data in a completely unique way to not only interact with it but also acquire meaningful insights.

“It’s clear given recent outbreaks on cruise ships since the suspension lifted at the end of October, that there is a need for more prevention tools to allow cruises to open and function safely during this time. What WRLD is offering is a robust digital map-making power to quickly create virtual worlds, smart buildings and more. We hope to harness this power with the help of the CDC and apply it to the case of the Diamond Princess,” said WRLD CEO Faizaan Ghauri. “The tools that we have developed, such as radius detection and heat maps, will help us understand how the virus was able to spread in closed spaces, where the major clusters were, how quickly was the virus able to spread, and how we can prevent this in the future.“

Built for high-performance and scalability, WRLD’s 3D maps support on demand, real-time streaming of map and location data to users so they can build maps with the WRLD SDKs and APIs and stream across web, mobile, desktop, and VR. The WRLD Map Design tool opens up map design and Point of Interest management to help create custom maps that connect with IoT sensors to provide real-time information on the state of the world.