Open AR-Sandbox: A haptic interface for geoscience education and outreach

Abstract

Virtual reality concepts have been widely adapted to teach geoscientific content, most notably in virtual field trips—with increased developments due to recent travel restrictions and challenges of field access. On the spectrum between real and fully virtual environments are also combinations of digital and real content in mixed-reality environments. In this category, augmented-reality (AR) sandboxes have been used as a valuable tool for science outreach and teaching due to their intuitive and haptic interaction-enhancing opera­tion. Most of the common AR-sandboxes are limited to the visualization of topography with contour lines and colors, as well as water simulations on the digital terrain surface. We show here how we can get beyond this limitation, through an open-source implementation of an AR-sandbox system with a versatile interface written in the free and cross-platform programming language Python. This implementation allows for creative and novel applications in geosciences education and outreach in general. With a link to a 3-D geomodelling system, we show how we can display geologic subsurface information such as the outcropping lithology, creating an interactive geological map for structural geology classes. The relations of subsurface structures, topography, and outcrop can be explored in a playful and comprehensible way. Additional examples include the visualizations of geophysical fields and the propagation of seismic waves, as well as simulations of Earth surface processes. We further extended the functionality with ArUco-marker detection to enable more precise and flexible interaction with the projected content. In combination, with these developments, we aim to make AR-sandbox systems, with the additional dimension of haptic interactions, accessible to a wider range of geoscientific applications for education and outreach.

The realm of metaverse: A survey

“…Unlike other games, Roblox games contain its own personalities, emphasize meeting social requirements, and are seen as an early manifestation of the metaverse. Decentraland, 229 The Sandbox, 230 and Cryptovoxels 231 are among other games or applications that most closely mirror the structure of the metaverse. We discovered that virtual games have the favorable characteristics, high realism, freedom, and high sharing and sociality, when compared to the metaverse framework we have presented.…”

From Maps to Models - Tutorials for structural geological modeling using GemPy and GemGIS

“…The barrier to utilize the Python language and associated packages for processing and visualizing data is lowered by the use of these tutorials. The usage of 3D structural models in teaching has also been adapted to make use of AR-Sandboxes (Wellmann et al, 2022). Here, models created through GemGIS and GemPy can be recreated in the AR-Sandbox (augmented reality Sandbox).…”

“…Structural geological models created with GemGIS and GemPy can be transferred to an Open AR-Sandbox (Fig. 7) (Wellmann et al, 2022). After recreating the original topography, the original structural model or the geological map will be displayed, respectively.…”

Google Earth Geoscience Video Library (GEGVL): Organizing Geoscience Videos in a Google Earth Environment to Support Fieldwork Teaching Methodology in Earth Science

“…Many active learning strategies such as inquiry-based or project-based learning can be also time-consuming to design and manage, sometimes with high cost or needing special equipment or training [18][19][20][21][22]. As a complementary tool, videos could be effective in increasing students' interest and knowledge [23][24][25][26][27]. The multimedia nature of videos is especially powerful for teaching and learning about the Earth because these combine spoken words (and closed-captioned text) and dynamic visual information can engage viewers and at the same time could use multimedia designs to manage cognitive load [28].…”