This research project (GEOPOD) focuses on the development of a software module that implements an interactive, intuitive interface - the "GEOpod", that allows users to probe a 3D immersion world of authentic geophysical data, actuate virtual devices to collect data and record observations, while guided by instructional design strategies that are customized for undergraduate learners. Because the data will consist of real observations and imagery, and simulated data from numerical models based on actual physics, the exploration environment naturally exhibits technical accuracy, scientific soundness, physical consistency, authenticity, and high fidelity; attributes that are otherwise enormously challenging and costly for synthetic simulations targeted for education. GEOpod will enable a user to pilot a vessel to simultaneously probe, the eye of a hurricane for example, and experience points of interest while immersed in an authentic storm simulation. The software module will extend Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), and utilize its collaborative utility to allow simultaneous users to engage in group learning activities and share information in real time.
Broader impacts of the proposed project include the delivery of a free, open-source IDV extension; development of learning modules with instructional strategies informed and improved by assessment rubrics, critical external evaluation, and experts in instructional technology; and engagement of students and university educators from the geosciences and computer science communities. GEOPOD?s Web-accessible, Java-based software will operate across operating systems. NSF investments in Unidata and Linked Environments for Atmospheric Discovery (LEAD) will be heavily leveraged. Finally, the products of this effort will be widely disseminated through conferences on geosciences technology and education, graphics, and virtual reality; Unidata's established community portal and workshops; and national scientific venues such as the American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, and the Association for Computing Machinery. It is estimated that GEOPOD has the potential to enrich the learning environment for 20,000 undergraduates in the nearly 200 higher education institutions in the U.S. and other countries through course integrations for geosciences majors and large-enrollment introductory courses for non-majors.
GEOpod: Geosciences Probe of Discovery What is Geopod? Geopod is an open source, java-based plugin for the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), a geoscience visualization software framework created byUnidata. Developed by the Computer Science and Earth Science departments at Millersville University through a National Science Foundation grant, Geopod is a learning tool designed to enhance undergraduate level earth science education by providing students and instructors with a novel and intuitive way to explore meteorological concepts. Geopod presents a new perspective and simplified interface for using some important features of traditional IDV, while including new features to enhance learning and facilitate classroom use. See http://millersvillecs.github.io/geopod/. How does Geopod help students learn? Geopod changes how students interact with the meteorological data presented with IDV. Rather than simply viewing a 3D image on a 2D screen, Geopod users are immersed in a 3D environment where they can navigate with video-game like controls, see atmospheric conditions at their current location, and use a variety of systems to gather additional data as they fly through the atmosphere. This unique, intuitive interaction style is designed to motivate students to explore the atmosphere and encourage them to learn meteorological concepts. As students explore the atmosphere, Geopod uses a variety of techniques to help them to understand and visualize atmospheric conditions. One of the most significant of these is depicting isosurfaces of various parameters which allow students to see all locations (as a 3D surface) where those parameters take on particular values. Geopod is capable of displaying isosurfaces for a variety of different parameters or for the same parameter at multiple values simultaneously. Rather than just viewing these isosurfaces from a distance, students can fly through them to investigate their appearance at close range. Additionally, as students fly through the atmosphere to explore isosurfaces, Geopod’s continuously updating parameter display panel shows the current values of up to 19 different parameters. This allows students to investigate not just the shape of the isosurface, but its influence on and the interactions among many other parameters. To further enhance learning, the isosurface lock mechanism allows students to "lock on" to an isosurface and fly along the surface, observing how other parameters change while the one parameter remains constant. In addition to the primary learning mechanisms of isosurface and parameter display, a variety of other features like the Dropsonde device, Particle Imager, Note Location system and many others help students gather data and learn meteorological concepts. See our Features page for more details. To facilitate student exploration and minimize time spent learning the software, Geopod’s interface was designed to be clean, easy-to-use, and accessible to novices and experts alike. In 2010 we conducted a usability study (PDF) to help us find and address any user difficulties, and we have been improving continuously ever since. Does Geopod present accurate atmospheric conditions? Absolutely. The data used in Geopod for isosurface rendering, parameter display, and all other subsystems is authentic geophysical data taken from data sources loaded into IDV. As such it is based on actual physics, thus exhibiting technical accuracy and scientific soundness. How can I learn more about Geopod? To find out more about what Geopod has to offer, visit our Features page or use the resources below: Geopod Demo (WMV) Geopod Users Guide (PDF) Geopod Quick Start Guide (PDF) Geopod is open source and freely available to the public: Browse Geopod's source code
