Design of three-dimensional cartographical didactic materials for Physical Geography teaching

Abstract

Three-dimensional cartographic resources are an important tool in the teaching of Physical Geography and other Earth Sciences. They are also able to help the students to reach a better understanding of the natural landscape. The objective of this work is to design appropriate 3D didactic resources to facilitate the teaching of the landforms in the Higher Education context. These didactic materials have been prepared by using Geographic Information Technologies (GIT). These graphical materials have been created with specific GIT tools, but they can be used by teachers and students with standardized sotfware (Google Earth, Adobe Acrobat Reader or image viewers). Specifically, files with topographical and geological information have been prepared to work with Google Earth. The digital elevation models (DEM) can be viewed in three-dimensional files in 3D PDF format. This work also proposes the creation of photo-realistic images with thematic information draped with the DEM in isometric perspective. Finally, 3D models have been made from the application of photogrammetric techniques so that can be seen in stereoscopic mode as an alternative to the traditional techniques. In conclusion, all these 3D didactic materials proposed in this work showed a great potential as complementary resources in the teaching and learning of Physical Geography and other Earth Sciences.