Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ - Frequently Asked QuestionsBelow you will find answers to some frequently asked questions about the World Resources SIMCenter. If your question has not been fully addressed by the answer provided, feel free to send us a follow up question via email to:  info @ wrsc.org


General

Are there more of these places?
  • The World Resources Simulation Center (SIMCenter) launched in 2011 in San Diego as a unique facility design. That facility has closed while awaiting a fully funded facility.
  • Licensing opportunities exist for organizations, institutions, foundations, and universities to create their own SIMCenter facility, develop programs and relationships with global and local decision-makers.
Can anyone use the space?
  • The SimCenter is available for rent by outside groups when there are no date or time conflicts.  We will discuss your event in detail to determine if we can meet your needs.
Can I use the SimCenter for my Event
  • We encourage you to use the SimCenter to add a new and improved experience to any event. Reserve the SimCenter
Do you do simulations?
  • Most visualizations are designed to better understand past trends and future projections over many years, even decades.  We explore an issue using multiple applications: videos, GIS maps, trend projections, comparative graphics, and occasionally spreadsheets.
How do I become a sponsor of this work? An Affiliate? A Partner? A Member?
  • We do have sponsorship and partner opportunities for companies and membership for individuals and institutions.
How do I license this technology?
  • Contact us first to arrange a tour and demonstration.  Attend several SimCenter events.  The SimCenter facility concept has utility in cities that are dealing the with challenging issues of growth and sustainability.
How is the SimCenter site organized?
  • Just to make things more clear we have divided it up into two areas.
    • About the SimCenter space and how you can use it
    • The history and vision of the SimCenter
  • On any page you are on, you can just go up to the header and click on one or the other icon to get to that area.
How long have you been in business?
  • We opened the SimCenter in our current location in July 2011.  The SimCenter went through several phases, with a Prototype event in 2008 and a Demonstration month in September 2009 at the New School of Architecture and Design.
What do you do at the SimCenter?
  • We have many programs for participation:
    • Green Scene brings together the leading sustainability organizations,
    • GeoDesign is for GIS map and data developers, geospatial analysts, and geo-enabled R & D
    • Plan San Diego delves into the critical issues of the region, and asks “How Sustainable are we?”
    • Movies That Make a Difference inform us about sustainable solutions.
What is collaborative visualization, and what does that mean to my business?
  • Immersive visualization surrounds you in the issues, trends and future projections for your firm or organization
  • The SIMCenter is designed to facilitate collaboration among your stakeholders (e.g. staff, suppliers and clients), working in teams to visualize concepts, problems and opportunities, and then reporting to the entire group. With teams working In this manner, everyone learns faster together.
What is the goal? / point?
  • Our mission is to visualize sustainable solutions to global and local problems so that we make informed choices quicker.
What is the World Resources Simulation Center?
  • The SIMCenter is an immersive visualization facility that helps to accelerate understanding by your group.
  • From a design concept by visionary engineer Buckminster Fuller, our goal is to visualize sustainable futures.
Where do you get your funding?
  • The SimCenter is a project of GENI, a non-profit 501c3 organization.  We:
    • seek and receive sponsor support from institutions and individuals,
    • offer memberships and partnerships,
    • rent the SimCenter for others to use,
    • sell information and products.
Who are your partners?
  • We have a number of institutional and individual partners.
Who is Buckminster Fuller?
  • Buckminster Fuller was called the “Leonardo di Vinci of the 20th Century”, a visionary engineer who developed new tools based on natures design.  His World Game simulation provides the foundation for both GENI and the SimCenter, as the goal is to provide a decent quality of life for everyone in an environmentally sustainable manner.  See:  www.bfi.org
Why did you locate this facility in San Diego? Downtown?
  • We wanted to be in the heart of the decision-making community, as well as be convenient to all transportation options like trolley, train and bus.
Why is sustainability so important?
  • Sustainability has been defined as meeting the needs of today’s society and doing so for generations to come. Scientists say that we have already reached threshold levels on several resources, which could cause those ecological systems to collapse.
Why was it built in San Diego?
  • The SIMCenter is a project of the Global Energy Network Institute (GENI) a non-profit research institute founded and based in San Diego in 1987.  
  • San Diego is blessed with top universities, on the doorstep of the Pacific Rim, and offers an exceptional quality of life.

Events / Registration

Are there more rooms?
  • Beyond the visualization space we have a separate “traditional” conference room with one projector that seats 6-8 people.
Can I “live stream” a television broadcast?
  • Yes.  The SimCenter can webcast your event live via UStream.  Additional technical staff are required.
Can one computer control all the screens?
  • Yes. One image/video can be used to fill any number of the 12 screens, in the order you choose.
  • The SIMCenter video switch enables many customized options. You can use it to control the visuals in multiple ways:
    • alternating images,
    • corner-of-room logos and surround presentation, 
    • project onto the large 14 ft. central wide screen and use the 10 other side screens
    • multiple formats can be used, and switch between them at breaks — as you wish!
Can we change the seating layout?
  • Yes, the standard SIMCenter set-up is 6 collaborative work tables with 2-8 WiFi connectors on each.  Many layouts are possible.
  • If the standard layout is rearranged, a reset fee may apply.
Can you record events at the SimCenter?
  • Yes, we can capture video via
    • Simple flip cameras (Standard 4:3 frame, Format: MP4, Quality: 640x480 pixels) or
    • Camcorder:HDV 1080/60i 16:9 frame, 1080x720 pixels. 
  • Additional technical staff would be required to manage the onsite SIMCenter studio equipment.
  • Higher quality recording equipment can be purchased and integrated in advance of your event.
Do you have a sound system?
  • Yes. There's your choice of music in surround sound and wireless microphone system for workshops and presentations.
How are you better than a hotel ballroom?
  • You could rent all the computers, network, video projection, sound system and install and integrate them into a hotel ballroom – but the cost of equipment leasing and staff set-up time would far exceed our existing set-up and day rates. If you must have the SimCenter experience in your ballroom event, then fill in your Event Request and check the “off-site event” option.
How much does it cost to rent the SIMCenter?
  • We have hourly/daily corporate rates. 
  • Government and non-profit group rates may be discounted.
  • If you have a registration fee, split fees may be arranged for some events.
  • Ask for the Rates that apply to your SIMCenter Event here 
How will the SIMCenter help me and my business?
  • The SIMCenter enables your team to visualize the trends and projections of your market and industry. (SIMPLIFY, CLARIFY)
  • The surround environment enables accelerated collective understanding and accelerated learning – you all learn faster together. (FASTER)
  • By literally seeing the relationships between issues, you can make more informed decisions quicker. (EFFICIENCY)
Parking and food is difficult to find, and expensive.
  • On street unlimited parking is easy to find, and 2-hour underground parking is generally available
  • There are many simple lunchtime venues and quality restaurants within a few blocks of the SIMCemter office.
What is your capacity for the space?
  • For stand up receptions 100.  For sit-down presentations 70.  For workshops/trainings 50.
What kind of events can we hold?
  • SIMCenter has held strategic planning workshops, training sessions, movie screenings, public forums, technical association workshops and briefings, sales presentations, executive team meetings, receptions and private parties.
  • We are open to new and innovative uses of this space, with high bandwidth communication via multiple channels to people is built in.
What qualifies you to do this better than anyone else? Why are you better?
  • Put your team in a creative, surround environment – enable them to add content and options -- and we have seen synergy occur (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts).  The SimCenter facilitates this process by its very design.
Who uses or who has used the space?
  • Examples include: strategic planning workshops, social media and website design training, certification courses for sustainability reporting and coaching, documentary films with local subject matter experts, receptions for trade associations and product launches.
Why should I go through the bother of using this technology? This seems so complex?
  • There are few simple issues today, and many have interconnected and related parts.  The SIMCenter allows you to see these connections all at the same time, and enables your team to add any missing content in real time. 
  • Single screen PowerPoint presentations are linear, where the SIMCenter enables parallel and lateral thinking at its best.
  • We have found at the SIMCenter that displaying sets of 12 slides together promote questions of understanding, as people relate to concepts displayed on may slides together. this is different than having people asking questions about the "order of presentation" and "what was on the last slide? (or "what was on that that slide -- 4 slides ago")"
  • for most people, well-designed info-graphics are MUCH easier to digest than a page of text.

GENI

What is GENI?
  • The Global Energy Network Institute (GENI) focuses on the interconnection of electric power networks between communities, nations and continents, with an emphasis on tapping abundant renewable energy resources. 
  • This strategy is the highest priority of the World Game™ simulation developed by Buckminster Fuller. 
  • Linking renewable energy between all nations mollifies conflicts, grows economies, reduces pollution and increases the quality of life and health for all.
  • Visit www.GENI.org for details.

Interns / Volunteers

Who are these young people in the space?
  • Interns (Students) and Volunteers come to GENI and the SIMCenter for many reasons: add to their skills, learn about the cleantech/green economy, learn a new language, and contribute to making the world a better place. 
  • They conduct research into the renewable energy potential of nations and communities, high-voltage transmission, global and local issues, and may learn GIS mapping, provide audio/video editing, website development and international marketing – high value skills in the new economy. 
  • They are a key strategy for accelerating the actualization of GENI’s mission and vision for the world.