A short film describing the development of a prototype application for the Oculus Rift DK2 headset, to visualise subsurface geoscience data in situ.
Synopsis:
Visualisation and Science Promotion team members Michael de Hoog and Bobby Cerini visited Lake George in southern New South Wales, to demonstrate how the Oculus Rift is used to integrate subsurface resources data in situ with views of the landscape.
In the opening sequence, Michael and Bobby set off across the dry lake bed. Michael is wearing the Oculus Rift headset while Bobby carries a laptop, containing georeferenced data previously gathered by Geoscience Australia. The headset has a camera attached to capture the view and enable tracking of Michael's head movements.
The video shows what Michael is seeing as he looks around. Different data layers are shown being switched on and off, as Michael gazes at different parts of the landscape. The data are overlaid on the precise location within the landscape in which they were collected, including seismic line, volumes, gravity, magnetic and borehole data.
The view changes to show Michael at the lakeside, wearing the Oculus Rift headset and looking at the wider landscape. Again the subsurface data is shown. The geographical extent of the data gathered in this area is revealed with Michael's head movements.
A voiceover accompanying the movie describes the processes used to make the film and to show what the headset wearer sees.
Script: Bobby Cerini, Michael de Hoog
Data visualisation, application development: Michael de Hoog
Cinematography, editing, audio: Michael O'Rourke
Titles: Kath Hagan
