Neotrie VR is not a commercial product made by a games studio — it is a research-backed educational tool developed by mathematicians at the University of Almería, Spain, specifically for mathematics classrooms. Research on its classroom effects has been published in Frontiers in Education (2024), and it was supported by an Erasmus KA2 project ("Geometrician's Views") and a UAL-FEDER research grant. This level of academic grounding — peer-reviewed evidence from real classrooms — is essentially unique among VR mathematics tools on the Meta Quest platform. One reviewer puts it simply: "If you are interested in VR tools for teaching math at any level, you have to install Neotrie."

What is Neotrie VR?

Neotrie VR is a dynamic 3D geometry software built in Unity by Virtual Dor — the commercialisation spin-off of the University of Almería, Spain. It was developed by Professor José L. Rodríguez of the UAL Mathematics Department and Diego Cangas, and first released in October 2018 on Steam. The Quest version followed later, making the software accessible on standalone headsets for the first time — a significant development given that the high cost of PC VR rigs had previously prevented many schools from adopting it.

The core concept is a 3D geometry sandbox where students can physically build and manipulate geometric objects rather than observe them on a flat screen. Instead of looking at a diagram of a dodecahedron in a textbook, you hold it, rotate it, pull it apart, pass through its faces and explore it from inside. Instead of reading about a Möbius band, you walk along one. Instead of memorising the properties of a torus, you stand inside it and look up through its hole. The spatial understanding that comes from this embodied interaction is qualitatively different from anything a 2D representation can provide.

Neotrie is used at UAL in degree-level Mathematics courses — linear geometry, algebraic topology — as well as in secondary school Mathematics and in teacher training. Master's students studying to become secondary school teachers have used Neotrie to design their own lesson sequences, which they then deliver in schools. This is one of the few VR tools with an established teacher professional development pathway built directly into its academic ecosystem.

What's Inside

Curriculum & Educational Fit

Neotrie VR is the most curriculum-aligned geometry VR tool available on Meta Quest — and the only one with peer-reviewed evidence of its effectiveness in real classrooms. Its greatest strength is in areas where school geometry consistently struggles: 3D spatial reasoning. Students who cannot visualise the cross-section of a cone, cannot mentally rotate a polyhedron to count its faces, or cannot understand why a Möbius band has only one side — these are exactly the students who benefit most from physical interaction in VR. Research shows that students who struggle most with 3D visualisation on paper show the greatest gains from immersive geometry environments.

For KS3 Maths, polyhedra, tessellations, symmetry and 3D shapes are directly on the curriculum — Neotrie provides the most powerful available supplement to these topics. For GCSE Maths, graph theory (Königsberg bridges), 3D coordinate geometry, cross-sections and transformations are all covered. For A-level and Further Maths, parametric surfaces, graph theory (Hamiltonian paths, Four Colour theorem) and topological structures go well beyond standard school content but are directly accessible to curious students. For Art & Design / STEAM, tessellation design, the geometry of Islamic art, geodesic architecture and crystalline structure all draw on Neotrie's content. The 3D printer export is a direct STEAM link — virtual constructions become physical artefacts.