EARTH SCIENCES AND THE HOLOLENS: APPLYING GEOLOGIC AND PLANETARY DATA TO AR ENVIRONMENTS

Augmented reality (AR) environments for Earth and planetary science allow the exploration of multi-scale, complex geometries that are common stumbling blocks for many students. AR allows for an instructor to naturally interact with students, or the public, to access and explore 3D virtual objects that would otherwise need to be projected onto a 2D screen. The Microsoft HoloLens is the current leader in AR head-mounted displays, providing an untethered headset (so no tripping over wires) that can be grouped together making 3D holograms appear in the same location for many concurrent users. The Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration is exploring and developing applications allowing for the 3D visualization of many different types and scales of data. Because the collection of geologic, photogrammetric data has increased in recent years, 3D photogrammetric models of geologic outcrops are now becoming commonplace; however, an accurate three-dimensional way of experiencing these models has yet to be established. The HoloLens in combination with these types of data allows students to explore geologic outcrops on Earth and other planets at their true scale. This provides a much more intuitive understanding of geologic structures and scales. The lab has recently released the first version of a HoloLens AR application, GeoXplorer, on the Microsoft Store. This application allows access to a growing database of photogrammetric models in true 1:1 scale, as well as the visualization of scaled digital elevation models and datasets of the Earth, Moon, Mars and other planetary objects.