Enabling scientific workflows in virtual reality

To advance research and improve the scientific return on data col-lection and interpretation efforts in the geosciences, we have devel-oped methods of interactive visualization, with a special focus on immersive virtual reality (VR) environments. Earth sciences em-ploy a strongly visual approach to the measurement and analysis of geologic data due to the spatial and temporal scales over which such data ranges. As observations and simulations increase in size and complexity, the Earth sciences are challenged to manage and inter-pret increasing amounts of data. Reaping the full intellectual ben-efits of immersive VR requires us to tailor exploratory approaches to scientific problems. These applications build on the visualization method’s strengths, using both 3D perception and interaction with data and models, to take advantage of the skills and training of the geological scientists exploring their data in the VR environment. This interactive approach has enabled us to develop a suite of tools that are adaptable to a range of problems in the geosciences and beyond. CR Categories