BioDigital is a New York-based biomedical visualization company that is often referred to as being "Google Earth for the Human Body".[1][2] BioDigital offers an interactive, 3D software platform that enables individuals and businesses to explore and visualize health information.[3] Their flagship product, the BioDigital Human, is a "searchable, customizable map of the human body".[4]
The BioDigital Human Platform has over a million users,[5] including doctors, medical students, and yoga instructors.[6]New York University School of Medicine has used the software to teach medical students about anatomy.[7][8]
The company also offers a set of API's that allow developers to use the company's imaging technology.
The company started as a consulting business in 2002, founded on the premise that 3D technology could be leveraged to make medical topics more comprehensible, accessible, and compelling.[9] In 2011, the company expanded their technology to reach the greater public, compiling all visualizations into a proprietary web-based virtual model of the human body, the BioDigital Human.[10] The BioDigital Human was one of the early systems to leverage WebGL, which allows any supported browser to render 3D models in webpages without plugins.[11]
BioDigital has partnered with the international charity Smile Train for the creation of a cleft lip and palate simulator. The simulator is an interactive teaching tool designed to train surgeons in developing countries on cleft lip and palate surgical repair. BioDigital and Smile Train received an award for Outstanding Achievement in Modeling & Simulation by the National Training Simulation Association in December 2013.[19] The companies were selected to showcase the technology at the 2014 TEDMED Conference in Washington DC.[20]
^Singer, Natasha. [1] "The Virtual Anatomy, Ready for Dissection" The New York Times. January 7, 2012.
^Empson, Rip. [2]. "Google Earth Meets The Body: BioDigital Gets $4M To Bring Its 3-D, Virtual Anatomy & Health Platform To Every Browser." TechCrunch. September 24, 2013.
^Bilton, Ricardo. [3] "BioDigital raises $4M to build the Google Earth for the human body". September 25, 2013.
