Tool or Toy? Virtual Globes in Landscape Planning

Abstract

Virtual globes, i.e., geobrowsers that integrate multi-scale and temporal data from various sources and are based on a globe metaphor, have developed into serious tools that practitioners and various stakeholders in landscape and community planning have started using. Although these tools originate from Geographic Information Systems (GIS), they have become a different, potentially interactive and public tool set, with their own specific limitations and new opportunities. Expectations regarding their utility as planning and community engagement tools are high, but are tempered by both technical limitations and ethical issues [1,2]. Two grassroots campaigns and a collaborative visioning process, the Kimberley Climate Adaptation Project case study (British Columbia), illustrate and broaden our understanding of the potential benefits and limitations associated with the use of virtual globes in participatory planning initiatives. Based on observations, questionnaires and in-depth interviews with stakeholders and community members using an interactive 3D model of regional climate change vulnerabilities, potential impacts, and possible adaptation and mitigation scenarios in Kimberley, the benefits and limitations of virtual globes as a tool for participatory landscape planning are discussed. The findings suggest that virtual globes can facilitate access to geospatial information, raise awareness, and provide a more representative virtual landscape than static visualizations. However, landscape is not equally representative at all scales, and not all types of users seem to benefit equally from the tool. The risks of misinterpretation can be managed by integrating the application and interpretation of virtual globes into face-to-face planning processes

Visual Climate Change Communication: From Iconography to Locally Framed 3D Visualization

“…The Local Climate Change Visioning Project (LCCVP), an extensive research endeavour in the community of Delta, BC (Sheppard et al, 2008), was the point of departure for the new game initiative, Future Delta. The 3D photographic visualizations of the LCCVP were remodelled, animated and extended within the interactive game environment of Future Delta (Schroth et al, 2011). and in-depth qualitative interviews with experts about their perception of the imagery in the game as well as asking about overall understanding, learning and motivation in relation to local climate change issues.…”

Representing Time-Dynamic Geospatial Objects on Virtual Globes Using CZML—Part I: Overview and Key Issues

“…Over the past two decades, virtual globes have become a standard way to integrate, visualize, and analyze multidisciplinary geospatial information at both local and planetary scales [1][2][3][4][5][6]. A number of sophisticated and powerful virtual globes, such as Google Earth [7], NASA World Wind [8], Cesium [9], and other online Earth browsers, have been developed and, subsequently, accepted by Earth scientists from different subject fields as convenient platforms to conduct studies, exchange ideas, present results, and share knowledge with a global perspective in a natural and intuitive way [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. The primary reason for virtual globes' success is that they provide more than just a digital replica of the Earth's surface with high-resolution images and terrain data.…”

Investigating the Use of 3d Geovisualizations for Urban Design in Informal Settlement Upgrading in South Africa

“…Virtual globes are easily accessible, and allow users to effectively create 3D visualizations of various types of spatial data (Bleisch and Nebiker, 2008;Schroth et al, 2011). However, not all these visualizations are successful which can be attributed to the lack of guidelines for creating effective representation.…”

“…However, not all these visualizations are successful which can be attributed to the lack of guidelines for creating effective representation. Schroth et al, (2011) investigated the usefulness of virtual globes as an interactive community engagement tool for landscape planning, specifically focused on 3D modelling of climate change vulnerability. After stakeholder interviews and questionnaires, Schroth et al found that 3D models portrayed in a virtual globe were a great tool to provide access to spatial data and to raise awareness for the specific project.…”