This grant supports a collaborative software development project between Worcester Polytecnic Institute and James Madison University. The investigators and undergraduate student assistants will develop techniques for building a 4-D "virtual globe" visualization package using Google Earth, Keyhole Markup Language (KML), SketchUp modeling software, and NASA WorldWind's open source code. The software would be used to create and present tectonic and geophysical syntheses through time, using geologically well-constrained mapping areas as prototype. The PIs will involve undergraduate students with both geoscience and computing academic backgrounds who will be trained in digital field mapping and in the development of the visualization approach. The PIs intend to make the software freely accessible for users so they can create virtual globe maps without advanced programming requirements.
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