PROJECT TITLE: Virtual Tours of NASA Facilities, Research Sites, Image Archives and Web Pages, and the Virtual Environment Builder Software
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Seismic Entertainment, an award winning industry leader in VR development, will use virtual reality (VR) technologies to create virtual tours of NASA facilities, research sites, media archives and web pages. The objective will be to attract repeat visitors into content-rich, collaborative environments, where educational exploration of NASA facilities, math and science concepts, and large archives and web sites, is both intuitive and appealing. An accompanying objective will be to integrate the resulting authoring tools into a companion Virtual Environment Builder (VEB), which can be used by NASA outreach personnel and software developers to create and modify additional worlds and tours. The proposed research will look beyond current technology to examine high-resolution panoramic imaging, VRML world-building and multi-user simulation tools. Phase I research objectives focus on evaluating the use of existing VR software in classroom, museum and home situations, soliciting feedback from students and the general public at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, creating innovative techniques for communicating the mission-critical concepts of major NASA programs, and locating available content and technology resources from the private sector and government facilities. This information will be incorporated into the technical and creative design of cutting-edge virtual tours and VEB software.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The anticipated results of a successful Phase I and Phase II effort will be a complete set of virtual environments and tours designed around NASA facilities, research sites, image archives and web pages, with live guided tours online led by scientists and engineers involved in the exploration of Earth and space. Space-exploration simulations and activities, designed with educators in accordance with NSTA guidelines, will be integrated into the VR environments, teaching fundamental science, math and engineering concepts. The virtual tours will be published on the Internet on a Seismic website, such as the LostWorlds VR Atlas, distributed on educational and entertainment CD/DVD-ROMs, and installed in public space kiosks at museums and visitor centers. Finally, a fully functional Virtual Environment Builder (VEB) will be available in professional and consumer versions on CD/DVD-ROM to enable NASA outreach personnel, educators and the general public to modify and create their own virtual tours. Drawing on collaborations with educators, focus group testing with people of all backgrounds, and cutting-edge educational technology, the resulting products will be the most technologically advanced and innovative educational software tools available on the market, and will run on PC systems available to the majority of the general public.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Jack Sculley
Seismic Entertainment
1495 Masonic Avenue
San Francisco , CA 94117
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR
Seismic Entertainment
1495 Masonic Avenue
San Francisco , CA 94117