HR: 0800h
AN: ED31A-0728    [Abstracts]
TI: EarthSLOT (an Earth Science, Logistics, and Outreach Terrainbase): Or, How You Can Create 3D, Interactive Visualizations of the Earth with Little or No Funds.
AU: * Prokein, P
EM: prokein@arsc.edu
AF: University of Alaska Fairbanks, 455 Duckering Bldg, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Nolan, M
EM: matt.nolan@uaf.edu
AF: University of Alaska Fairbanks, 455 Duckering Bldg, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: In spring of 2004 we received a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) from the NSF's Office of Polar Program's Arctic Logistics and Research Support program to create an internet-based, interactive, 3D terrain and data visualization system of the Arctic. A preliminary version of this application, called EarthSLOT, can now be found on-line at www.earthslot.org. EarthSLOT allows users to visualize the earth, whether as a spinning globe from space or from the sea-floor looking up at a mid-ocean ridge or anywhere in between. Flight controls range from completely interactive to following pre-planned routes, and the visualizations can be done real-time over the internet or saved as screen shots or MPG movies. The purpose of this project is to put easy-to-use 3D terrain and visualization tools into the hands of many users at little or no cost to them, by taking care of the complicated and expensive work ourselves. Therefore EarthSLOT may be an ideal tool for scientists with low outreach budgets to share their research with other scientists or the public. Those on a very low budget can use EarthSLOT for free, as can any ordinary user, without modifying it or adding their own data. Example uses would be analyzing the terrain surrounding a field site, adding a 3D visualization of a study area to a presentation, or exploring the vector data added by others to their study areas. Those with about \$1200 to spend on the necessary commercial software can add their own content to the existing application. For example, an ecologist can add or create shapefiles that outlines their study plots and then link those outlines to web pages containing data or further information. Or a glaciologist can superimpose the locations of mass balance stakes and weather stations on the surface of a glacier, then create an mpg movie that starts in space and zooms down to the stake level to visualize how weather systems on a planetary scale relate to the local measurements. Or scientists/educators can teleconference and use the software's collaborative tools such that one user can control the displays of the others', guiding them to points of interest in 3D over the internet. EarthSLOT is a new and evolving project and we are seeking input from potential user communities on ways to improve it as well as ways to diversify and strengthen its funding base. Combinations of any resolution digital elevation models or imagery can be used in EarthSLOT, and we plan to use global Landsat mosaics as the minimum level of imagery. One way to improve this is through contributions of higher resolution data from users. Our current funding is arctic-based, but the application itself is global in nature. We are therefore seeking new funding sources to help support developments in other regions of the globe and ensure that EarthSLOT can remain on-line as a low-cost resource for as many users as possible.
UR: http://www.earthslot.org
DE: 9315 Arctic region
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting