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Geoinformatics-8-2008
article can be draped onto a digital terrain model and radar, satellite imagery, digital bore holes, mine plans and any previous geological data can be overlaid, giving the most complete picture possible. although it is possible to use geovisionary on a laptop or tablet pc out in the field, it looks stunning when one is able to view the data in 3d. bgs uses it on its virtalis stereoworks system consisting of a single large screen onto which stereo images are rear projected by a christie mirage s+4k using a sun ultra40 workstation as the image generator. the projector is capable of extremely high resolution and brightness, boasting one and a half mega pixels. the entire room s control system has an integrated wireless touch panel, so that light and sound are all controlled from a single point. bgs vr rooms seat 18 people, and also have a wireless is900 tracking system from intersense, allowing people to interact immersively with their models. communication is key although geovisionary has not yet been used in a surveying context by any users except bgs geologists, it is clear that this technology has changed the way in which they work. virtalis has found that first and foremost vr technology fosters communication. the system allows teams of geologists to survey an area before commencing fieldwork, thus building an understanding of the terrain, combined with any existing interpretations. this initial assessment allows surveyors to effectively target fieldwork in areas where surveying is most required. on completion of fieldwork, the surveyors can check their field interpretation in the virtual landscape. this team approach allows colleagues to work together on pre and post studies things that had traditionally been solitary studies in the past. bgs surveyors report that, far from being subject to interference from colleagues on their projects, a team approach has managed to avoid rework on several occasions, especially over the exact boundaries of the survey area, giving truly seamless mapping. junior colleagues can work alongside senior ones in the vr suite and, during the shared pre-survey stage, areas of especial interest can be targeted. geovisionary can also give surveys the kind of advantage that only those with a budget stretching to a helicopter can dream of, as it allows the surveyor to suddenly fly up to 20,000 feet to obtain an altered viewpoint, or a wider perspective. as no features are obscured by topography or landscape features, bgs survey teams have reported that, once they have digitized their fieldwork data, they are left with an efficiently gathered, single coherent picture. bgs scientists have branched out to use geovisionary on non-uk datasets. they have even deployed it in seabed environments and on inter-planetary remote sensing data, such as that available for mars. current work also includes mapping projects in ethiopia and tajikistan. geovisionary how it works geovisionary enables the visualisation of underlying geological modelling in 3d and allows photographs, maps and other related geoscience data, such as geotechnical, environmental and geochemical information, to be overlaid onto it. initially, the team developing the geovisionary prototype took parts of the uk s ground surface model provided by intermap technologies and draped certain key geoscience data sets, such as its digital bedrock and superficial geology from digmapgb50, on to it. the initial prototype results were encouraging, but limited then by the amount of data that could be loaded into the system. nevertheless, teams of geoscientists were able to view and interact with the surface and subsurface models over regions of the uk for the first time using immersive visualisation technology, or vr. these early successes led to more testing and development, with the creation of a uk wide virtual field reconnaissance system, integrating national scale data holdings, existing 3d surface and subsurface models and a variety of geoscientific or geo-environmental layers. another key aspect of the design was to december 2008 60
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