GeoWall: Low-cost 3-Dimensional Display Technology for the Remote Sensing Sciences

1. GeoWall:Low-cost 3-Dimensional Display Technologyfor the Remote Sensing Sciences Brian Davis, USGS/EROS Data Center Paul Morin, University of Minnesota Luc Renambot, Andrew Johnson, Jason Leigh, University of Illinois - Chicago International Workshop on Earth Observation Technology and Application Prospects for Cooperation in Earth Observation 18th Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS) Plenary Meeting and Associated Events November 17, 2004 - Beijing, China Topic 1: Earth Observation Technology and Plans Session 2: Instrument and Measurement Technologies

2. State of the Wall • Past • Present • Future

3. PAST • CAVEs - Virtual Reality - Very Expensive • Dual-output (Stereo) graphics cards for PC Motherboards • CAVElib port to linux • GeoWall Consortium

5. Present • Recently-developed, affordable 3D stereo visualization • Research collaborations initiated • Over 300 by Dec. 2003, current est. 500+ • 10% of all U.S. Geology undergraduates • Over 15 museums • 20 papers and presentations at 2003 AGU, One half-day Session at 2004 AGU • Potential to serve satellite remote sensing

6. Future • Commercial GIS Software ESRI ArcGIS, MDL Chime, DGI EarthVision, MMK Roma, IVS Fledermaus, VRCO VGEO, AGI Satellite Tool Kit • GeoWall2

9. Future • Commercial GIS Software ESRI ArcGIS, MDL Chime, DGI EarthVision, MMK Roma, IVS Fledermaus, VRCO VGEO, AGI Satellite Tool Kit • GeoWall2 • PG2 – Personal GeoWall2 • Stereo • Science Museum of Minnesota – St. Paul

11. Future • Commercial GIS Software ESRI ArcGIS, MDL Chime, DGI EarthVision, MMK Roma, IVS Fledermaus, VRCO VGEO, AGI Satellite Tool Kit • GeoWall2 • PG2 – Personal GeoWall2 • Stereo • Science Museum of Minnesota – St. Paul • Printed Maps

12. Low-End GeoWall Stereo Printed Maps • Topography without contours • No crashing • Inexpensive • Will work next year • Can be used in the field

13. Future • Commercial GIS Software ESRI ArcGIS, MDL Chime, DGI EarthVision, MMK Roma, IVS Fledermaus, VRCO VGEO, AGI Satellite Tool Kit • GeoWall2 • PG2 – Personal GeoWall2 • Stereo • Science Museum of Minnesota – St. Paul • Printed maps • Passive Stereo LCDs – Interlaced pixels for an audience of one – no glasses • Stereo Photographs

15. Demonstration: Wall Evolution • Earthquake Epicenters • Landsat Stereo Pairs • ESRI ArcScene 4-D Animation • Stereo Photography

16. Additional Information • PG2 at USGS Exhibit Booth • Bibliography • Contacts • References • This PowerPoint Document at: http://GeoWall.org/edc/Docs/GeoWallCEOS.ppt

17. Bibliography Research is supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (ANI-0225642, EAR-0219246, and EAR-0218918) Steinwand, D., Davis, B., Weeks, N., 2003, “GeoWall: Investigations into Low-Cost Stereo Display Technologies”, USGS Open File Report 03-198 Leigh, J., Morin, P., Johnson, A., DeFanti, T., Brown, M., Sandin, D., Rack, F., Vernon, F., Orcutt, J., Davis, B., van Keken, P., Smarr, L., 2003, “GeoWall-2: a Scalable Display System for the GeoSciences”, Fall 2003 American Geophysical Union Conference, San Francisco, CA, December 8-12, 2003 Davis, B., 2004, “Virtual Reality Meets GIS: 3D on the Wall”, ArcNews, Summer 2004, Vol. 26 No.2 Davis, B., 2004, “Affordable Systems for Viewing Spatial Data in Stereo”, ArcUSer, July-September 2004 Davis, B., Morin, P., Ramstad, M., 2004, “Three-Dimensional Anaglyph of the Earth, ESRI Map Book Volume Nineteen, 2004 Leigh, J., Renambot, L., Johnson, A., Brown, M., Sandin, J., DeFanti, T., Ellisman, M., Orcutt, J., Smarr, L., Davis, B., Morin, P., Ito, E., Rack, F., 2004, “Challenges in Ultra-High-Resolution Visualization and Collaboration”, 2004, High Information Content Display Systems Symposium, Arlington, VA, September 13-14, 2004, Krishnaprasad, N., Vishwanath, V., Venkataraman, S., Rao, A., Renambot, L., Leigh, J., Johnson, A., Davis, B., 2004, “JuxtaView – A Tool for Interactive Visualization of Large Imagery on Scalable Tiled Displays”, Cluster Computing 2004, San Diego, CA, Sep. 20-23, 2004

18. Contacts http://GeoWall.org bdavis@usgs.gov

19. References http://edc.usgs.gov http://GeoWall.org http://www.evl.uic.edu/cavern/optiputer/

20. Background • USGS Research Project: Information Technologies Research Project Lead • Momentum from development of GeoWall Consortium • Geo – Geology (Geography… Geometry… Geo…) • Wall – One wall of a cave – descendent of CAVElib • 3-D Viz on the cheap • GeoWall Consortium - formulation without funding • Jason Leigh University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC), Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) – Cave Technology • Peter van Keken, University of Michigan - Geology • Paul Morin, U of Minnesota – Geology Visualization, Wall Evangelist • Brian Davis, EROS – Data Pimp

21. Number of GeoWalls – 12/03 $15,000* $6,000* 2-10 new systems a week (*Cost of a modest system)

22. Cost of a Modest System

23. GeoWall Index (With respect to Harper’s Index, as of 12/03) Approximate number of GeoWalls:250 Number outside the US:~30 Percentage in the classroom:~75% Percentage of non-major earth science students that see a GeoWall in the US:15-25% Average cost of one “CAVE”:$1.5 million Cost of the GeoWalls currently in educational service:$1.5 million Most popular material:USGS’s Stereo LANDSAT Imagery Data transferred from GeoWall.org:279 Gigabytes Busiest day on GeoWall.org:300,000 hits in 8 hours on September 1, 2002 (Slashdot.org article) Publications beginning to appear

24. Road Shows • National Park Service Regional HQ, Omaha • SDSM&T • Sinte Gleska University • Missouri River Institute, USD • Grand Canyon National Park • Russell Senate Office Building • 03 SD Technology Summit • Space Days, Washington Pavilion • MIB (Main Interior Building), Washington, D.C. • USGS Headquarters (x2) • ESRI User Conference, San Diego, CA • GIS Day, EPA HQ • 04 DSU CECIS Symposium • EDC Auditorium

25. Notable Audiences • Under-Secretaries of DOI • SD Sen. Tom Daschle • NASA deputy director • SD Governor Mike Rounds • CBS News • Federal Agency and Academic Collaborators • Various USGS HQ staff • BOR • Jamie Rounds, SD 2010 Initiative • FEMA Regional Director • Students • Teachers • USGS Directors • Ukrainian Land and Resource Management Center • National Wetlands Inventory Coordinator • National Volcano Hazards Program Coordinator • Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance • Canadian Center for Remote Sensing • Naval Oceanographic Office • Chinese Bureau of Mapping • NIMA • State-wide Lewis&Clark Meeting • SD Geography Bee

26. Development Direction Thus Far Hardware development • Now stable and spun off to 4 companies Software development • “Seed” applications freely distributed • Encourage the support of GeoWall software by key vendors: ESRI ArcGIS, MDL Chime, DGI EarthVision, MMK Roma, IVS Fledermaus, VRCO VGEO, AGI Satellite Tool Kit Establishment of GeoWall community • 4th Annual GeoWall Meeting Spring – May 2004 • Special interest groups being established • Museum community underway

27. GeoWall Museum Network Alaska: The Imaginarium, Anchorage. Illinois: SciTech Hands on Museum, Aurora;Discovery Center, Rockford; Lake County Discovery Museum, Wauconda; Lakeview Museum, Peoria. Indiana: Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Evansville; Science Central, Fort Wayne; Children’s Science and Technology Museum, Terre Haute. Iowa: Bluedorn Science Imaginarium, Waterloo. Texas: Don Harrington Discovery Center, Amarillo Other Museums: Chicago Museum of Science and Industry Adler Planetarium, Chicago Science Museum of Minnesota Lowell Observatory Texas Memorial Museum - UT Austin

28. Final Points • GeoWall is now going beyond earth sciences • Price can’t get much lower • Basic technology is ready • Vendors are supporting the community • Critical mass has been reached in the geosciences • Assessment is just beginning • Timing for feedback is excellent • Opportunities for collaborative research