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  • Project owner Patrick Mast offering insights into the story production for Google Earth’s new Voyager feature. (Source: Ubilabs)
  • Ubilabs CEO Jens Wille greeting the Women Techmakers developers. (Source: Ubilabs)
  • The snack bar was well-stocked for the networking breaks between sessions. (Source: Ubilabs)
  • VR expert and JavaScript developer Martin Schufuß (r.) providing a hands-on VR experience. (Source: Ubilabs)

Insights

Women Techmakers meet Ubilabs

The IT world still is a predominantly male domain. That’s why Ubilabs is happy to sponsor initiatives such as the Women Techmakers Hamburg. The WTM supports women with training and networking opportunities, helping them gain a foothold in IT. On May 31, Ubilabs invited the community of dev ladies and gents to visit our headquarters in Hamburg and get to know our team.

Diverse projects in Hamburg’s Sternschanze district

So why did we invite the WTM? We’re passionate about what we do and wanted to show how much fun working as a developer can be. We also wanted to give the WTM community a chance to get to know our team, our projects, and our headquarters. To this end, we turned our office into a networking space and our meeting rooms into VR labs. Our front-end developers Frank Mecklenburg and Franz Neubert as well as our project owner Patrick Mast presented two of our current projects: MOKLI, the help finder app for young people in need, and Google Earth’s new Voyager feature. After that, our VR expert and JavaScript developer Martin Schuhfuß offered a hands-on VR experience and discussed the opportunities this medium offers.

Mobile web app for kids in need

For MOKLI, the help finder app for young people in need, Frank Mecklenburg took on the role of lead developer. During the meetup he offered insights into the development of the mobile website, which is based on Google Maps. MOKLI is a mobile-first web application by Berlin-based NGO KARUNA that offers an interactive map with which at-risk youth can easily find counseling services, medical aid, night shelters, or food banks in Germany. For Ubilabs, the project included the development of a content management system (CMS), the technical design of the website and the interactive map, as well as the programming.

Stories aplenty

For Google Earth’s new storytelling platform Voyager, Ubilabs supported Google in the content production and processing for some of its most exciting stories. During the meetup, Franz Neubert and Patrick Mast let the visiting developers in on the typical production process of a Voyager story and showed some of our all-time favorites such as Google Earth View and the Miniatur Wunderland Street View Trek.

VR is the future

What exactly is virtual reality, how does it work, and what is needed for it to work? Martin Schuhfuß answered these questions and more during his slot concluding the meetup. In the framework of Dole’s VR project, the VR expert also demonstrated the basics of WebVR, showing how you can build it in the browser and which tools you need.