CREATING VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS USING 3D MODELS, GIGAPIXEL IMAGES, AND 360-DEGREE PANORAMAS IN SAGUACHE COUNTY, COLORADO

Recently, virtual field trips (VFTs) are more widely used because of technological developments in both software and hardware. More schools and institutions are using virtual and augmented reality to execute geology field trips without having to bring students to the field. Gigapixel images have also been used to provide huge high-resolution images with fast loading capability.

The researchers created a cloud-based, immersive virtual reality embedded with various media, including 3D models, Gigapixel images, and 360-degree panoramas in Saguache County, Colorado, providing students with a greater experience whilst using VFTs. First, we built aerial 360-degree panoramas (AP360) to give a bird’s-eye view over an area of the interest. These AP360s have been created by photographing the areas of the interest from the air with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and provide a view of the entire area above a specific point of interest. These AP360s are used to populate scenes in HoloBuilder, a cloud-based immersive virtual reality software, in which users can switch between different scenes. Students can move between scenes by clicking on points within scenes. Any type of map can be imported as a scene in HoloBuilder. For example, students can move to another scene by clicking on a corresponding point on a geologic, satellite, or topographic map, and continue their activities there. Students can open 3D models of the geologic structures of an area, rocks, and fossils, and observe detailed textures and colors, as well as the entire shape and structure of objects. In addition to 3D models, Gigapixel images, plain images, videos, PDF documents, and/or website URLs were also deployed in scenes as icons. By embedding various scenes and media in an immersive virtual reality, students are able to view the geology outcrops in a variety of ways leading to multidimensional learning.