Taking the plunge into immersive science
Innovative solutions to hard problems
Are tools like virtual and augmented reality the next frontier in hydrologic modelling? C1W co-lead Hazen Russell and Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Library manager Jordan Clark think the answer is yes — and they’re putting the proof in people’s hands.
60 YEARS IN 15 SECONDS - The Baffin Island AR animation shows just how variable precipitation can be over the span of decades even outside of influences like climate change.
Russell and Clark’s forays into augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) go back to the development of a modern geological framework for Southern Ontario. For that project, they decided a 3D digital model would best synthesize the vast number of data inputs in a user-friendly way, and that led eventually to the development of an accompanying AR/VR animation.
“So with Canada1Water, when we found ourselves looking at 70 years’ worth of climate data, monthly maps and all kinds of static data for Baffin Island, we thought, ‘AR could be really useful here’,” says Russell.
He reached back out to Clark and the Library for help.
“We’d learned a lot from building the Southern Ontario model about how to work with the technology,” says Clark. “For example, one of the challenges with AR is that it’s fragmented ecosystem. Depending on how interactive you want to be, you may need to do it separately for Apple and Android, though it’s converging.”
“When we found ourselves looking at 70 years’ worth of climate data, we thought, ‘AR could be really useful here.’”
TIME AFTER TIME
The point-in-time nature of the Baffin Island data lent itself to a timelapse-style presentation. Five milestone years were singled out: 1960, 1980, 2004, 2006 and 2019. (A version showing continuous progression from 1960 onward is now in the works.) When loaded onto a smartphone and held up against a neutral background, the AR projection can be rotated, viewed from any angle, and zoomed in and out by tilting the device or pinching the screen.
The animation illustrates sometimes drastic transitions between each milestone year. “You get an instinctive, immediate impression of just how dramatically precipitation can change between one year and another,” says Russell.
Even so, users should be careful to draw firm conclusions. For example, the Baffin Island animation shows a steep decline in precipitation between 1990 and 2000. That might look like a trend, but going farther back into the data confirms such dips have happened before.
On the other hand, the Baffin Island data does show a step change in average temperature of 1.5º Celsius after 1990, which may be partly due to natural variability but nonetheless seems to represent a warming trend attributable to climate change.
SEEING MORE, SEEING DIFFERENTLY
Ultimately, AR visualization allows users to relate to data in new ways.
“Tools like these bring data to life in ways a spreadsheet just can’t,” says Clark. “They shift your perspective, which creates opportunities to ask new questions. And this is only the beginning, we’re just scratching the surface of what these technologies can do.”
The beta version of the Baffin Island animation is available at https://q.ogsrlibrary.com/baffin for viewing. An expanded model is on the way.
Hazen Russell is a C1W co-lead and a scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada.
Jordan Clark is manager of the Oil, Gas and Salt Resource Library.