Promoting Interest in Soil Sustainability Issues Using Interactive Virtual Environments

How do we best promote interest in soil science and related sustainability issues, using interactive visualisation software? Soil virtual environments could be used to help address the drop in the number of students studying soil science, as the interest has shifted more to other environmental sciences, which often lack a soil science com-ponent, despite being a key factor in many environmental issues today (Hopmans, 2007, Baveye & Jacobson, 2008). For example, soil stores approximately 99 % of terrestrial UK carbon, and there is evidence (both direct and indirect) that UK soils are losing carbon at a net rate, particularly in the highest-carbon soils, most of which are in upland Scottish areas (Towers et al, 2006). Soil virtual environments could be used to stimulate interest in soil and related issues. What is proposed in this project is an important first step towards evaluating alternative methodologies to textbook-based, non-interactive, and flat-colour 2D illustrations, for communicating soil science. Crucial to these new methodologies are the use of 3D graphics to allow for greater depth, texturing, light-ing, realism, and the rotation and manipulation of objects in ways that are not possible with traditional paper or 2D graphics. A greater sense of user-engagement is possible using 3D graphics in an interactive virtual environment, especially where temporal aspects are also shown. To start this exploration, two common soil viability indicators have been selected for representation: drainage