Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, got a lot of attention when it renamed itself to reflect its focus on the “metaverse.” But Meta is hardly the only firm building the immersive digital world that could be the next big thing on the internet. One is based in Philadelphia.
Cesium, a software company, provides a platform to create applications using three-dimensional location data. For example, the construction equipment giant Komatsu uses Cesium’s platform to build digital twins of construction sites to track safety and progress. Clients can use drones and rovers to gather location data to build up-to-date models using Cesium’s platform.
CEO Patrick Cozzi said his company is deeply involved in building the metaverse and one of the strongest advocates for making sure it is open and interoperable, so users can own their data and bring it from one metaverse to another. The company was spun out of Analytical Graphics, based in Exton, Pennsylvania, in 2019. It now has about 40 employees and clients in the energy, defense and real estate industries.
Cozzi spoke with The Inquirer to explain what the metaverse is and why it’s important. The conversation was lightly edited for length and clarity.