GeoVisionary Helps GSNI Showcase Data

07 July 2010, 8:00pm

A complete Virtalis StereoWorks ActiveWall display system and Virtual Reality (VR) suite has been installed at the Geological Survey of Northern of Ireland (GSNI) to run GeoVisionary software.

Garth Earls, director of the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, explained: “We have been fortunate to be able to install GeoVisionary at a time when the development phase was complete. The input provided by the British Geological Survey (BGS) has made it ideal for our needs.”

GeoVisionary was developed by Virtalis in collaboration with British Geological Survey. Version 1.0 of GeoVisionary is capable of streaming and rendering terabytes of height and photography data, as well as various geographic information layers, such as geology or land use, covering a huge geographical area in real-time. GeoVisionary enables the visualisation of high detail GIS source data and allows other data, such as geoscience, geotechnical, environmental, sub-surface, geochemical and other specialised information, to be overlaid onto it, giving a complete picture.

The StereoWorks visualisation system forms the technological core of many of Virtalis’ advanced visualisation installations and stereoscopic 3D display systems. As well as providing the perfect environment in which to view GeoVisionary, the systems also support CAD software for real-time stereo design and offer high-resolution digital stereo movie playback at very high bandwidth. The StereoWorks range consists of the latest stereo viewing hardware coupled with the Virtalis’ own specialist software suite, StereoTools. GSNI has installed a tracked active stereo, rear-projected system, called ActiveWall, which allows users to interact with their data in real-time without casting shadows.

Alex Donald, information delivery, GIS and design at GSNI, is the principal user of the new Virtalis system. “We were very well aware of both GeoVisionary and StereoWorks from using the systems installed at BGS’s offices. GeoVisionary enables us to stream very large data sets that can’t be viewed on our computers. Therefore, it allows us to showcase our data, especially aerial photos, to diverse groups including local government, industry and students. We have also begun to use GeoVisionary for preliminary field reconnaissance.”

Virtalis

Geological Survey of Northern Ireland

GeoConnexion