VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS DELIVERED THROUGH ARCGIS ONLINE: INTEGRATING 3D MODELS, GIGAPANS, VIDEOS, AND OTHER CONTENT IN A WEB BROWSER-BASED APPLICATION

Virtual field trips in the geosciences have become an essential tool in the current situation where many university programs have moved to online instruction. Virtual field trips can also improve accessibility to the geosciences for a broad spectrum of students. Dalhousie University had begun to explore drone and 3D technology prior to the pandemic, and this effort was accelerated in the summer of 2020 to prepare for online delivery in the Fall term. We opted to create virtual field trips of local sites allowing faculty to teach to their strengths and to have these virtual resources going forward when in-person classes and field trips resume. At approximately twenty field sites spanning eight different courses, we built 3D models, Gigapan panoramas, and videos of instructors explaining field concepts and trip objectives. We integrated these virtual resources in ArcGIS Online. Georeferenced 3D models can be displayed in the map environment preserving their scale and orientation. Distance and volume measurements can be done directly in ArcGIS Online, whereas orientation measurements (e.g., strike/dip) can only be estimated. Using the built-in App Developer in ArcGIS Online, field trip ‘stops’ were created along with a sidebar that includes text and embedded content such as YouTube and Gigapans. For each ‘stop’, the map view and layers change as does the content in the sidebar. Delivering these content-rich virtual field trips through ArcGIS Online eliminates the need for students to install software or download data.

These field trips will be delivered online in a semi-synchronous format in the Fall of 2020. Some instructors will also mail packages to students in advance of the course including maps, printouts of Gigapans, and samples. During the synchronous component of the virtual field trips, students will be introduced to the virtual interface, the field trip objectives, as well as conduct a ‘walk-through’ of field stops to highlight features and concepts of interest. For some trips, students will be divided into groups (Channels in MS Teams) to work on some questions and then report back to the group. Further analysis and write-up will be done asynchronously. We expect these field trips will be used in the future as pre- and post-field trip resources as well as for students who cannot go into the field for various reasons.