Interactive volume visualizations for synchronous and asynchronous remote collaboration

The value of information acquisition is not simply to acquire data at increased precision, but to make these data both available and usable to as many specialists as possible. We have developed a working prototype for intuitive realtime interaction over the Internet. Current scenarios include use by expert head and neck surgeons, for use in preoperative assessment of head and neck cancers, and remote synchronous collaboration scenarios such as expert-expert and expert-referring physician. This prototype demonstrates a shared virtual environment that allows multiple users to interactively manipulate large volumetric data sets across long distances. The system is easily extensible to many other applications that utilize discrete data sampling and thus is readily extensible to a wide range of scientific investigations.