TY - JOUR
T1 - How Academics and the Public Experienced Immersive Virtual Reality for Geo-Education
AU - Bonali, Fabio L.
AU - Russo, Elena
AU - Vitello, Fabio
AU - Antoniou, Varvara
AU - Marchese, Fabio
AU - Fallati, Luca
AU - Bracchi, V. A.
AU - Corti, Noemi
AU - Savini, Alessandra
AU - Whitworth, Malcolm
AU - Drymoni, Kyriaki
AU - Mariotto, Federico Pasquaré
AU - Nomikou, Paraskevi
AU - Sciacca, Eva
AU - Bressan, Sofia
AU - Falsaperla, Susanna
AU - Reitano, Danilo
AU - van Wyk de Vries, Benjamin
AU - Krokos, Mel
AU - Panieri, Giuliana
AU - Stiller-Reeve, Mathew Alexander
AU - Vizzari, Giuseppe
AU - Becciani, Ugo
AU - Tibaldi, Alessandro
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-07-06
Acknowledgements: This research has been provided in the framework of the following projects: (i) the MIUR project ACPR15T4_00098–Argo3D (http://argo3d.unimib.it/ (accessed on 26 November 2021)); (ii) 3DTeLC Erasmus + Project 2017-1-UK01-KA203-036719 (http://www.3dtelc.com (accessed on 26 November 2021)); (iii) EGU 2018 Public Engagement Grant (https://www.egu.eu/outreach/ peg/ (accessed on 26 November 2021)). Agisoft Metashape is acknowledged for photogrammetric data processing. This article is also an outcome of Project MIUR–Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018– 2022. Finally, this paper is an outcome of the Virtual Reality lab for Earth Sciences—GeoVires lab (https://geovires.unimib.it/ (accessed on 26 November 2021)). The work supports UNESCO IGCP 692 ‘Geoheritage for Resilience’.
PY - 2021/12/24
Y1 - 2021/12/24
N2 - Immersive virtual reality can potentially open up interesting geological sites to students, academics and others who may not have had the opportunity to visit such sites previously. We study how users perceive the usefulness of an immersive virtual reality approach applied to Earth Sciences teaching and communication. During nine immersive virtual reality-based events held in 2018 and 2019 in various locations (Vienna in Austria, Milan and Catania in Italy, Santorini in Greece), a large number of visitors had the opportunity to navigate, in immersive mode, across geological landscapes reconstructed by cutting-edge, unmanned aerial system-based photogrammetry techniques. The reconstructed virtual geological environments are specifically chosen virtual geosites, from Santorini (Greece), the North Volcanic Zone (Iceland), and Mt. Etna (Italy). Following the user experiences, we collected 459 questionnaires, with a large spread in participant age and cultural background. We find that the majority of respondents would be willing to repeat the immersive virtual reality experience, and importantly, most of the students and Earth Science academics who took part in the navigation confirmed the usefulness of this approach for geo-education purposes.
AB - Immersive virtual reality can potentially open up interesting geological sites to students, academics and others who may not have had the opportunity to visit such sites previously. We study how users perceive the usefulness of an immersive virtual reality approach applied to Earth Sciences teaching and communication. During nine immersive virtual reality-based events held in 2018 and 2019 in various locations (Vienna in Austria, Milan and Catania in Italy, Santorini in Greece), a large number of visitors had the opportunity to navigate, in immersive mode, across geological landscapes reconstructed by cutting-edge, unmanned aerial system-based photogrammetry techniques. The reconstructed virtual geological environments are specifically chosen virtual geosites, from Santorini (Greece), the North Volcanic Zone (Iceland), and Mt. Etna (Italy). Following the user experiences, we collected 459 questionnaires, with a large spread in participant age and cultural background. We find that the majority of respondents would be willing to repeat the immersive virtual reality experience, and importantly, most of the students and Earth Science academics who took part in the navigation confirmed the usefulness of this approach for geo-education purposes.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/675053
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/12/1/9
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121835692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/geosciences12010009
DO - 10.3390/geosciences12010009
M3 - Article
SN - 2076-3263
VL - 12
SP - 9
JO - Geosciences
JF - Geosciences
IS - 1
ER -