Seed Project Spring 2021: iWalk on FROST

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Responsible:

Daniel Kramer, G.R.I.M.P.,University of Sherbrooke.

Marius Jonassen, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS).

Solveig Solem, NTNU and UNIS.

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The virtual walkable maps were done for the UNIS courses AGF-350/850 (Marius Jonassen, UNIS, AGF), AGF-212 (Eero Rinne, UNIS, AGF), AGF-345 (Noora Partamies, UNIS, AGF). In collaboration with Solveig Solem (UNIS, NTNU), a more general game about glacier mass balance has been created to showcase the general application of walkable maps and video games for scientific applications. You can download and check out the game here.

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The walkable maps will allow students to virtually explore the area of Longyearbyen and its surroundings, which are frequently used for fieldwork at UNIS, through a realistic, 3D “gaming environment”. The maps will include detailed terrain models (digital elevation models), with photo-realistic textures based on aerial photos in addition to 3D renderings of selected buildings. Like Virtual Field Trips, walkable maps provide virtual access to field sites, independent of season, light conditions, weather and other factors typically limiting field accessibility, but they do so in a more realistic and interactive fashion. Furthermore, walkable maps will increase field safety by highlighting areas of increased geo-risks like avalanche terrain. These risk-zones can be calculated via geo-data-sets in a GIS-environment.

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Further, the project aims to expand on the FROST project which was funded in the iEarth spring call 2021. Both projects are linked to the local geography and will be measured during fieldwork of the UNIS courses. .

iWalk- How to create a walkable map

If you are interested in creating your own video game for your own application, you can watch the tutorial below to see how it was done.

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You can download the video here.
You can download the Mass Balance Game here.

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Also check out other projects from Daniel Kramer:
Svalbard Geological Game
GIS crash course on working with field data