Augmented Reality Geology can be a killer application of the classroom

One of the most important challenges in geology education is bringing the outside world into the classroom. During an epidemic, apparently, the inability to bring students safely into the classroom does not make it any easier. Fortunately, digital tools can provide new ways to access the world, no matter where you go.

Geology is a very spatial science and requires a lot of 3-D visualization. Simple physical models (not to mention rocks) have long been used to help teach about things like defects or crystalline mineral structure. But these things can be surprisingly expensive And Occupy a surprising amount of storage space. This is a clear place where technology can come in, providing endless variety of objects, simulations and real-world data – if there is an easy way for students to access it.

Augmented Reality (AR) visualization is increasingly capable of delivering that promise. Ars spoke Martin Pratt The St. Louis group is developing apps for classes about their work as part of the University of Washington, both for specialized devices such as microSF’s holoLens and most students already have phones.

“You want to present that data as if you were doing it in a three-dimensional way, not incidentally, like on a textbook screen. “So you can really look around [and] Manipulate exactly how you do in real life. The thing with the ignited reality that we find most appealing [compared to virtual reality] It offers a more intuitive teacher-student setting. You are not hiding behind an avatar. You can use body-language cues [like] Eye contact to direct people to where you want to go. “

Ph.D. A few years ago in seismology while completing, Pratt took an interest in data visualization along the way. He challenged the work of creating AR applications, starting with one (iOS only), allowing users to find advanced USGS seismic data in three dimensions instead of just a 2-D map. This way you can more easily understand the geometry of the boundary of the tectonic plate, or even find the way to the foreshocks and aftershocks around the earthquake.

Working with the Unity game engine, Pratt has since put in place a flexible application called GeoXplore (for iOS and Android) to display other models. There is already a large collection of models of crystalline structure for different minerals, from which you can see how all the atoms are arranged. There are also a number of different types of rocks, so you can see what those minerals look like in the macro world. Moving back to scale, there are full rocks, allowing for a real geology field-trip experience in your living room. Larger than this, there are maps of landscapes on Earth, as well as terrain on the Moon and Mars.

And it’s not just geology. Due to the interest of people from other fields, Prot has found existing datasets in plumb, like the models of protein, art and archeology.

For now, this is a standalone experience, but Pratt is working to create a shared space in the app. The instructor will be able to scan around the room and create a reference frame for the space. Other users can join the session from their devices, download the reference frame and fit it into its perspective. Upon completion, students will all be looking at the same virtual object object that is placed and controlled by the instructor, as if they had a model in the front of the room – moving to a collaborative experience.

This group is simultaneously creating a community database to keep a growing list of accessible objects or budgets with the application. Data that is already digital is a simple operation. Turning pieces of the physical world into digital models is a separate operation. Thanks, this has gotten a lot easier lately. Laser-scan to budgets with expensive devices is not necessary. Using “speed to speed” photogrammetry software, you can easily process a number of images from different angles to create a model.

“We have a little light-set setup in the lab, with diffused light to show the hand sample you want to measure,” Pratt said. “It’s a little turntable, so you just take a 10 degree photo every day and do 36 different photos around the same level, then move the model a little bit and do another 36 … and try and collect perfection. That’s a hand sample.”

The size and resolution of these objects are currently restricted by our devices’ ability to handle rendering at the desired refresh rate. One thing that is coming for these systems is the adaptive resolution capabilities that load more detail when you zoom into a section of the budget. This has a variety of applications; For example, NASA’s Mars rover teams can use this to orbit the red planet while retaining the ability to see objects up close. But it will also open up more options for the classroom.

Moving beyond static models dello, some interactive simulations are also employed. Pratt is working with glaciers at Columbia University A glacier simulator Which allows you to grow and shrink glaciers on virtual terrain or even on your desk Or ladder.

These are all practical and unique tools for teaching and learning, especially since they do not require expensive new devices that need to be shared. (Although there are definitely advantages to having a hololance in the UI and control section.) And as more people gain value in this technology and contribute new models of objects and locations, its usefulness can increase.

“[AR] Hopefully in a few years to tell students and undergrads, ‘Oh, I don’t need to just use a laptop anymore. I can really show this three-dimensional data that I am trying to study and understand in a different way the way I am sitting here. ” Pratt said.

To have a little fun with it, you don’t have to be a student at all. Feel free to invite anyone to your moon or call foreign crystals to your table. You know, like a wizard.