Engineers and computer scientists at West Virginia University's GeoVirtual Laboratory (GVL) have developed what they called the VRGIS solution -- short for 'virtual reality geographic information systems.' The VRGIS project combines several technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), location based services (LBS), and geographic information systems (GIS) with 'the power of the Internet to provide people with a portal to dynamically share information in a revolutionary new way.' For example, they've developed the augmented reality (AR) headset, a set of goggles which could be used by police officers to 'verify license information and do background checks against a variety of databases.' But don't worry, the GVL team also wants to offer these technologies to people like you and me.
Just for fun, let's start with the introduction of the West Virginia University (WVU) news release.
Imagine taking a first-time business trip to Shanghai and quickly finding your way as though you’d lived there for years. Further imagine conveniently seeing directions at the same time you’re navigating the streets or instantly locating friends and family anywhere in the world, from the largest cities to the most rural countryside.
This is the goal of the VRGIS project at the GeoVirtual Laboratory (GVL). But will it happen? The researchers think so because their technologies are 'simple.'
The VRGIS technology receives information from databases via the Internet. It then puts the information together in ways that are easy for people to use. The technology is extremely versatile and connected to far more than desktop computers. It allows users to share location-based information and to communicate freely between smart phones, laptops, desktop PCs, PDAs, tablets and browsers.
For example, they've used augmented reality (AR) -- an environment that includes both virtual reality and real-world elements -- to design the AR Headset, a set of electronic goggles that allow users to see the real world along with computer-generated images projected over top of that world. Below is a photo of a user navigating 'the streets of Morgantown' using these AR glasses (Credit: GVL).
The GVL team is also using the FLEX, a reconfigurable immersive VR system, where VRGIS applications can be loaded. Here is a picture of this CAVE environment (Credit: GVL).
But how this FLEX system could be used to share information?
The WVU GeoVirtual Lab has several VRGIS applications that can be loaded into the FLEX’s virtual reality, including a three-dimensional map of Morgantown. Users can "fly" above and around Morgantown’s streets and buildings, or "drop" down past the mountains and hills to the surface of the Monongahela River where they can see textures and elevations. People can mark points of interest on the virtual landscape using geographic reference points, or "geoPoints," which act as virtual sticky notes containing audio, video, images, textual information and hyperlinks.
The GVL team also wants to help people with low-vision: they could "benefit from virtual mobility training by learning to navigate unfamiliar locations from the safety of the FLEX system before embarking off into real world environments." Of course, they have projects in gaming, education and surveillance systems. All they need is money and industrial partners...
For more information about the technologies involved in VRGIS, you can read this recent presentation done by GVL director Vic Baker (28 slides) or a previous technical paper, "Explorations in the use of augmented reality for geographic visualization" (PDF format, 15 pages, 1.34 MB).
Sources: West Virginia University news release, November 28, 2006; and various websites
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