Space Apps Challenge 2018

EarthARium

Awake the scientist in young students by visualizing fascinating data about our home planet using augmented and virtual reality technology in the classroom.

We have conceptualized an innovative method of bringing scientific data closer to students and have implemented a prototype of a visualization software using augmented and virtual reality technologies that can be easily employed in the classroom.

With our approach, complex data and correlations between different data points can be visualized and connected in an interesting and engaging way that is appealing to students and which drives their desire for exploration.

Here's how it works!

1. Choose from a number of different environments. For this hackathon, we have implemented Earth and asteroids. The Moon and other satellites, including man-made ones such as the ISS and Hubble Space Telescope, are on the roadmap.
2. Determine scene parameters for the chosen environment and select what layers of information to display. This includes current and projected population data, meteor impact rates, temperature layers, human footprint, and more!
3. Print the generated QR codes onto the worksheets you, as a teacher, have created for your class.
4. Ask your students to use their smartphones in conjunction with our app and your worksheet to visualize complex data and correlations in an augmented reality environment. If virtual reality hardware is available, it is also possible to fully immerse students in their task to find answers!

Our Code:

• AR: https://github.com/t04glovern/EarthARium_AR
• VR: https://github.com/Tapego/EarthARium_VR

Resources:

• https://data.nasa.gov/Space-Science/Meteorite-Land...
• https://vis.globe.gov/GLOBE/
• https://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/
• https://wiki.earthdata.nasa.gov/display/GIBS/Globa...

Open Source Libraries:

• https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal
• https://github.com/OSGeo/proj.4