1. Site map | Contacts
PHARMACEUTICAL & HEALTHCARE FOOD & STRATEGY & DIGITAL SOLUTIONS & RESOURCES & ABOUT US
MEDICAL DEVICES WELLNESS CONSULTING COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY eZINEs
Geeks of Health 10 articles
6 contributors
Home > Resources & eZINEs : Geeks of Health > Google Body: A "Maps" Effect for the Health field?
Google Body: A "Maps" Effect for the Health field?
In Geeks of Health, posted on 6/29/2011 by Leandro Agrò
The Author
Leandro Agrò
aka leeander: 15 years experience IxD
Designer & Manager
His leadership and innovative work have
been recognized by numerous
organizations, such as: Venice Biennale of
Architecture: “Visionary”, ADI: Included in
ADI INDEX (Compasso D’Oro finalist), New
York Times: Included in Top10 Internet of
Things Products, WIRED: Nominated as
“ItAliens”, etc.
Contact the author
Recent Tweets
What is Google Body?
Gizmodo wrote:
Google’s already taken you across the globe,
down to the bottom of the ocean, and out to
the mountain of Mars. It’s been a vaguely
educational journey! Their next frontier: the
human body, with Google Body Browser .

2. It's a web application that ­ thanks to technology WebGL, or better: a 3D that works
inside a browser and without a plugin ­ gives the opportunity to visualize a human
body, rotate, zooming and identify each organ, bones or vein navigating through the
anatomic layers such as: muscles, organs, bones and circulatory system.
Google Body, has been designed as an educational tool. It represents a good start
but not a final product, or a professional solution in the health field.
At the same time the 3D tool represents the start for something potentially
extraordinary and reminds me the time when keyhole appeared on the net and then
acquired by Google became Google Earth.
Functioning through direct manipulation
Continuous experience
Open source systems
Direct manipulation and continuous experience are techniques that through shifting or
through a direct click in the 3D content gives you the opportunity to explore it without
having the ”blank” moments of page recharging, clicking through buttons and
interfaces that – mediating­ move away the content from the user.
All these different possibilities the user has in looking at a video or listening to a
lecture make the content very interesting and intriguing.
The mix between the Power of 3D that can be manipulated and the medical images
on http://www.zygote.com give the possibility to realize a credible model, detailed
labelling and transparency.
The 3D has always been a sector
linked to the proprietary formats
where also the simple software of
translation is commercial. The use of
WebGL is really promising,
becoming a standard because it
makes the contents immediately
portable. A good timing, given the
explosion of devices’ biodiversity,
nowadays far away from the past
times of PC centred during which the
proprietary technologies flourished.
Bioephemera WebGL is potentially perfect for
tablets and mobile in general and it
is ready to make the human body
navigable as it already does for the
maps: a tool for learning!
Google Body is a Beta, we have still
to understand if it can have a real
utility, nevertheless the opportunities
seem to be very interesting. The
system is an open source such as
Google Earth and for sure many
specific medical applications will
grow up.
Google body browser­ Femur
It is easy to imagine a future
connection between ready to wear or
domestic sensors as per diagnostic or prevention scopes and the 3D system, or
simply the connection between Google Earth and /or a different case history including
general info on the patient so that you can visualize possible pathology on a 3D
personalized system.
We can say that – while the planet is training to use avatar just to play and
“gamification” is a trend – the health sector is looking for its own enabling
technologies. We have only to decide how much importance we would like to give to
the free solutions of Google, rather than to home made or third parties alternatives.
In the end the true news is that Google Body has demonstrated that WebGL could be
what we are looking for. The browsers from Chrome to Firefox 4 are able to be a
window on the human body.
Note (dec 2010): Google founder Larry Page has affirmed that one of the main

3.
Note (dec 2010): Google founder Larry Page has affirmed that one of the main
scopes of his searching engine is that to give detailed info on health. The second
more clicked online word is “heart” in different languages and the 80% of the users
looks for info on health.. Moreover 29% of young people aged between 19 and 29
use the web through their mobile for health info. Here it is the version of Google
Body for smartphone Android: https://market.android.com/details?
id=com.google.android.apps.body&feature=search_result .
Google Body: A "Maps" Effect for the
Health field?
Download in PDF format
Main Services Contact us
Strategy & Consulting FRANCE : Paris Publicis Healthware
International | The eHealth
User Experience GERMANY: Düsseldorf communications agency
eMarketing INDIA: Mumbai
Content Management EU: +39 089 3061 411
ITALY: Salerno ­ EMEA Hub USA: +1 888 463 3797
Solutions & Technology
ITALY: Milan
Mobile & Digital Media Development Send an e­mail
USA: New York, NY ­ US Hub
IT and Infrastructure Careers
USA: Ames, IA
USA: Yardley, PA
Healthware S.r.l. a socio unico ­ A Publicis Healthcare Communications Group company
Sede legale ed operativa / Head office: Via A. Amato 15, Salerno 84131, Italy Tel. +39 089 3061411 Fax +39 089 3061415
CAP.SOC. € 100.000 Int. Vers. Rea CCIA di Salerno N°331650 ­ C.F./P.I. IT07854130635