I just read an article / watched a video of a fire drill. Not terribly interesting, but it was a rendering of the University of Durham's computer science department using Valve's source engine so it made the news. It's a good application of the existing technology.
Articles / videos:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/02/04/videogame_fire_drill/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7867861.stm
Back in the days when I was at Durham, the mainstream / press social acceptance surrounding videogames was very different; people who decided to render their university buildings in FPS videogame engines usually ended up arrested for it.
The computer science department is much bigger now; I visited (fairly) recently (ish) when my brother graduated. I have a vague recognition of the place from the simulation. Also, back when I was at Durham, the main office of the computer science department was at the top of the building, so that tiny winding staircase you see in the video? I remember climbing up 5 floors to get to the computer science department fairly regularly. The main part of the department was usually out of access to undergraduate students, and the rest of the building was in use by the engineering department so I never really ventured into it. If I was there during a fire, I would not have known what to do with the main staircase gone, and I'd probably be dead by now. Hooray for fire simulations!
