How Academics and the Public Experienced Immersive Virtual Reality for Geo-Education

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Fabio L. Bonali ◽  
Elena Russo ◽  
Fabio Vitello ◽  
Varvara Antoniou ◽  
Fabio Marchese ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Unmanned Aerial System ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Volcanic Zone ◽  
User Experiences ◽  
The Public ◽  
The North ◽  
Large Spread ◽  
Mt Etna

Immersive virtual reality can potentially open up interesting geological sites to students, academics and others who may not have had the opportunity to visit such sites previously. We study how users perceive the usefulness of an immersive virtual reality approach applied to Earth Sciences teaching and communication. During nine immersive virtual reality-based events held in 2018 and 2019 in various locations (Vienna in Austria, Milan and Catania in Italy, Santorini in Greece), a large number of visitors had the opportunity to navigate, in immersive mode, across geological landscapes reconstructed by cutting-edge, unmanned aerial system-based photogrammetry techniques. The reconstructed virtual geological environments are specifically chosen virtual geosites, from Santorini (Greece), the North Volcanic Zone (Iceland), and Mt. Etna (Italy). Following the user experiences, we collected 459 questionnaires, with a large spread in participant age and cultural background. We find that the majority of respondents would be willing to repeat the immersive virtual reality experience, and importantly, most of the students and Earth Science academics who took part in the navigation confirmed the usefulness of this approach for geo-education purposes.

Physically Walking in Digital Spaces — A Virtual Reality Installation for Exploration of Historical Heritage

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis A. Hernández ◽  
Javier Taibo ◽  
David Blanco ◽  
José A. Iglesias ◽  
Antonio Seoane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Housing Unit ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Virtual Reconstruction ◽  
Final Output ◽  
Historical Heritage ◽  
Interactive Experience ◽  
Digital Spaces

Immersive Virtual Reality Systems have been extensively used during recent years for the exploration of architectonic spaces. This paper describes how the use of transitable immersive virtual reality systems, that is, those that allow the user to physically walk while exploring the virtual world, can greatly empower the experience of perception of space in architecture. The text describes a particular example of one installation of this kind that was developed by the authors and how it was implemented for the interactive experience of the virtual reconstruction of a housing unit on a pre-roman settlement. This installation is open to the public as part of a permanent exhibition and constitutes the final output of the research at this time.

scholarly journals 3D MODELLING AND MAPPING FOR VIRTUAL EXPLORATION OF UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY ASSETS

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W3 ◽  
pp. 425-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Liarokapis ◽  
P. Kouřil ◽  
P. Agrafiotis ◽  
S. Demesticha ◽  
J. Chmelík ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
3D Modelling ◽  
Optical Data ◽  
Underwater Archaeology ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Exploration Time ◽  
Underwater Exploration

This paper investigates immersive technologies to increase exploration time in an underwater archaeological site, both for the public, as well as, for researchers and scholars. Focus is on the Mazotos shipwreck site in Cyprus, which is located 44 meters underwater. The aim of this work is two-fold: (a) realistic modelling and mapping of the site and (b) an immersive virtual reality visit. For 3D modelling and mapping optical data were used. The underwater exploration is composed of a variety of sea elements including: plants, fish, stones, and artefacts, which are randomly positioned. Users can experience an immersive virtual underwater visit in Mazotos shipwreck site and get some information about the shipwreck and its contents for raising their archaeological knowledge and cultural awareness.

The Selling of Virtual Reality: Novelty and Continuity in the Cultural Integration of Technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Nagy ◽  
Fred Turner
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Cultural Integration ◽  
Living Room ◽  
End User ◽  
User Experiences ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Integration Of Technology

Abstract Since the spring of 2014, the consumer virtual reality (VR) industry has once again been racing to reach the public, providing an opportunity to track an emerging medium’s cultural integration in real time. We examined three sites on the sales chain that stretches from the laboratory to the living room: industry developer conferences, industrial prototypes, and end-user experiences. At each of these sites, marketers renegotiate VR’s novelty in order to sell it to specific constituencies. Paradoxically, these negotiations reveal how VR, typically presented as a disruptive innovation, has been called upon to stabilize and ensure the continuity of the past: that is, of particular cultural forms and of the industrial and technological infrastructures that sustain them. We argue that the enculturation of VR demonstrates that the processes that summon new technologies and construct them as novel also reinforce existing—and often unspoken—agreements about the ways that culture should be organized.

scholarly journals Harnessing the power of immersive virtual reality - visualization and analysis of 3D earth science data sets

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayan Zhao ◽  
Jan Oliver Wallgrün ◽  
Peter C. LaFemina ◽  
Jim Normandeau ◽  
Alexander Klippel
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Earth Science Data

scholarly journals Virtual Geosites as Innovative Tools for Geoheritage Popularization: A Case Study from Eastern Iceland

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Federico Pasquaré Pasquaré Mariotto ◽  
Fabio Luca Bonali
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Earth Science ◽  
3D Modelling ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
International Scientific Community ◽  
Online Resource ◽  
3D Exploration

In this paper, we have adopted a modern, cutting-edge methodology to make geoheritage sites (geosites) available and explorable worldwide, through both immersive and non-immersive virtual reality, particularly suitable also in COVID-19 times. In doing this, we have focused our attention on five different outcroppings, shallow magma bodies in Iceland: such geological objects, although being often underestimated, are, on the contrary, very suitable for geoheritage popularization purposes. These outstanding outcrops have been transformed in virtual outcrops (VOs) through UAV-based photogrammetry 3D modelling, and have been uploaded on a brand-new, dedicated online resource (GeoVires Virtual Reality Lab for Earth Sciences) which is accessible worldwide for Earth Science teaching and communication. As already stressed above, the choice of these Icelandic shallow magma bodies has been suggested by the fact that such geological objects, although extraordinarily challenging both in terms of geotourism and teaching, are seldom the object of attention from the international scientific community. The five VOs are defined here as virtual geosites (VGs) because they are, indeed, geosites that are fully accessible with a smartphone, a tablet, or a PC; moreover, each is provided with a detailed description and notes available during 3D exploration. Our work could represent a model for future, similar efforts aimed at popularizing Earth Sciences and making geoheritage available to a broad public through VGs.

Strategy for Protecting the North Sea: A Chemical Industry Perspective

1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 269-276
Author(s):  
J. R. Lawrence ◽  
N. C. D. Craig
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Chemical Industry ◽  
Important Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
The North ◽  
Anthropogenic Inputs ◽  
Seven Principles ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Cost

The public has ever-rising expectations for the environmental quality of the North Sea and hence of everreducing anthropogenic inputs; by implication society must be willing to accept the cost of reduced contamination. The chemical industry accepts that it has an important part to play in meeting these expectations, but it is essential that proper scientific consideration is given to the potential transfer of contamination from one medium to another before changes are made. A strategy for North Sea protection is put forward as a set of seven principles that must govern the management decisions that are made. Some areas of uncertainty are identified as important research targets. It is concluded that although there have been many improvements over the last two decades, there is more to be done. A systematic and less emotive approach is required to continue the improvement process.

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