Landscape Visualisation : From lab to field

1. Introduction This paper presents a methodology for the use of 3D modelling and landscape visualisation in the context of real world experience through fieldwork. The techniques aim to engage student groups in certain technical debates concerning the nature and use of digital surface models, photography and digital reconstructions of glacial landscapes. A simple augmented reality technique using perspective views printed on transparencies has been used successfully over a number of years (Priestnall, 2004). This technique has now been extended to using GPS-enabled Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to deliver spatially referenced 3D views of hidden landscapes (geology) and past landscapes (glaciated) in the context of a physical geography fieldtrip. To complement the 'validations' of lab visualisations described above a technique for synchronising user location between lab-based real-time stereo visualisations and the PDA applications is being utilised. This methodology serves both as a test-bed for developing GPS-enabled PDA-based applications and also to explore the differences between wayfinding and orientation between real world and virtual world.