Recent Uniview Projects @DMNS

Ka Chun Yu
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
2001 Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO 80205 USA
Gates Planetarium

16.9 meter diameter dome

25° tilt,
6  Projection Design F30 (SXGA+)
projectors
16.4 channel sound;
120 seats
Uniview-related Projects That Won’t Be Discussed:


Students Teaching Astronomy Using Real-time
Technology (START) – Greg Mancari


Life Out There: An astrobiology multimedia experience – David
Grinspoon, Ka Chun Yu
Uniview-related Projects That Will Be Discussed:


New open Uniview object modules;

module creation tools – gallery and speckify


Long-term Visitor Impact Surveys of Real-time
Earth Science Shows


Worldview Network
Dark Matter Halo (Via Lactea simulation)
The Problem with Digital Universe Databases:
•
Restricted license for beyond real-time use.
•

•
Many image galleries and 3D astronomical databases
publically available—e.g., at Vizier
(http://vizier.cfa.harvard.edu/viz-bin/VizieR)

•
Difficult to turn ASCII data files into content for planetarium
software.
gallery:
•
Command-line perl script to process image data

•
Current support for Uniview / Partiview

The Carbon Trail, James

Sweitzer
Local Group of Galaxies
M31 (Digital Universe)
Sky Survey 2)
Large Magellanic Cloud (Digital Universe)
Sky Survey 2)
Globular Clusters (Harris
(Digital1997, and DSS2)
Universe)
Imagery from online repositories
speckify:
•
GUI toolset for processing databases in arbitrary format
•
Current output format for Uniview / Partiview
•
Written in C++ / FLTK, with support for Windows courtesy of SCISS

Bella Gaia, Kenji

Williams
speckify:
HIPPARCOS Stars (“Denver”
(Digital Universe)
Stars)
speckify & gallery:
•
Available for download from Sourceforge.net, GPL license;
•
Soon to be available from 1.4 release.
•
Currently running on Linux and Windows.
Denver Basin Project
Digital Earth Lectures

• Bimonthly lecture series, started in 2008

• Live navigation over virtual Earth;
“astronaut’s eye view”
 Visitor Surveys for Digital Earth Lectures
• Museum visits Free choice experience

• Visitor exposure to information in short

(hour long), isolated bursts, with no
commitment to additional lectures

•
Difficult to get assess knowledge before
experience

• Possible Assessments:
• Qualitative instead of quantitative

•
Focus on a few measurable outcomes

• DE Evaluations:
•
Written visitor surveys
• Oral telephone interviews (10-15 min)
 Impact of the Visuals and Immersive Display
(see Yu, 2009, The Planetarian, 36(3), pp. 6–12, 64)

“outstanding visuals”
“the incredible view”
“spectacular view of the earth”

“It’s like Imax+Google Earth!”

“screens are huge…”
“size of images”
“the feeling of being surrounded by the Earth’s grandeur”
”“full overhead view. Full immersion”

“Feeling as if flying”
“ability to move in space and time”
“zooming in from outer space”
“comfortable broad view, zoom in/out”

“Ability to show macro & micro geography”

“Global perspective of geography”
“Moving around the world, zooming in getting a great understanding of details of the
areas shown.”

“Seeing geography as it is instead of flat as on maps.”

 Audience Telephone Interviews

Look for long-term impact of museum program

Interviews conducted 3 weeks – 6 months after lecture

Became More Learned More Later

Interested in the Topic
“Did you become more interested in “Have you done anything to learn
Date Subject any of the topics covered in the more about these topics since the
lecture as a result of the talk?” lecture?”
28 Oct 2008 Natural Hazards 8/9 Yes 2/9 Yes
11 Nov 2008 Water Challenges 10/10 Yes 7/10 Yes
13 Jan 2009 Long Faults
5/7 Yes 2/7 Yes
11 Mar 2009 High and Low Points
5/7 Yes 4/7 Yes
7 Jul 2009 Rivers
8/12 Yes 5/1 Yes
 “What do you remember learning from the lecture?

Really one of the things that stand out that was incredibly useful to
understand was the way Java and Sumatra were shown in an oblique
perspective; and the volcanoes; and the way the islands were
juxtaposed with the western coast of America. [23 days after lecture]

Hmmm ... I can’t remember what country we were looking at, but I was
surprised by the number of volcanoes. And with the amount of
population around them. That was the major thing: that there were so
many people living around those volcanoes. [23 days after lecture]

I think I remember it was a tour of Africa and the features; what caused
the features, like climate change, how it affect tributaries, the water
supply and the ecosystem. [59 days after lecture]
 “What do you remember learning from the lecture?

Information about the tectonic plates and the different names for
different types of geological movement— those were the basic points.
And that he decided to tell the story of highest [and] lowest points of
each of the continents. [81 days after lecture]

All the different faults and how even though they’re similar in some
ways, how different they are. What’s going to happen from them.
[140 days after lecture]

I remember we … followed the Amazon through the rainforest, through Brazil,

and how it came out of the highlands … We also looked at the rivers over the
Nile, the Blue Nile, and the … White Nile, and how those rivers came together.
[6 months after lecture]

I think what most impressed me was that it gave me a sense of

connectedness and breadth of geography that we saw in our fly over
particularly of north Africa. To get a sense of the expanse was more
important than any one bit of info. The topics were interesting and
helpful and the identifications too, but the breadth [was most important].
Got a real visual sense of the geography; of where it was desert or
where there were populations. [58 days after lecture]
 “Have you done anything to learn more ...?

Yes, I came home and looked over all the National Geographic atlases
to see the places that were talked about. Yes, I actually started reading
a bunch of earth science books—like encyclopedias and things—that
we have at home.

I’m a Google Earth fanatic ... revisited those places from different
perspectives on Google Earth. Had conversations with other friends to
let them know about the show ... invited people to the shows. We [he
and a friend who also attended] reflected on it as we climbed Mt.
Democrat day before the election. While atop Republican peak, looking
at the landscape, having a good view, reflected back on that evening
and talked about the points the geologist talked about.

Online, [Google] ... I’m interested in active ones [volcanoes] in Hawaii

and the possibility of the super volcano in Yellowstone, Wyoming. I’m
just fascinated by Yellowstone. I didn’t know that there was the
possibility of volcanoes there.
 Other Impacts
The Sahara—how it had changed and the desertification. Iran and Iraq
are supposed to be lush, and you could see the canals that they used
[for transport] and now they are no longer able to use them; they’re
silted in and the soil going out—that’s happening now because of the
way the we’re killing the soil ... the method of farming, the soil is turned
over, the wind takes it away. We do more and more to get a crop and
do more and more damage. It’s defeating. ... Actually, we’re recycling
more. (Interviewed 59 days after lecture)

[JK interviewed 6 months after]

Joined DMNS geology canoe field trip with Bob Raynolds

Invited Bob to lecture at children’s school

Worked to bring 3rd grade classes from school to special day-

time lecture given by Bob

Worked to bring 4th grade classes from school to special day-

time lecture by Bob
 Comparing Uniview to Google Earth

“I think that having someone narrate a path … [is] certainly helpful. If

you’re just zooming around in Google Earth, you don’t know exactly
what you’re looking at.”

[Having] a guided tour, with a theme, by a knowledgeable person who

could kind of help us interpret what we were seeing, was able to take us
from one side of the planet to the other … So he was able to make it
more informative and understandable than me just looking at Google
Earth by myself.

… I can go look around Google Earth, I have no clue where I’m looking
at, you know.

I’ve played with Google Earth once or twice. But the fact that it was in
the planetarium, it was a larger screen, you could understand it better.
And instead of trying to manipulate it yourself, somebody else was
manipulating it, and knew what they were doing, it was a lot more
helpful.
Conclusions
•
Immersive and size of visuals had impact

• Majority of visitors had increased interest.

• Interviews showed visitors remembered specific details

long after the event.

• Majority of visitors tried to learn more. Several

participants had significant later impacts via personal
behaviour change or working to expose more people to
Digital Earth talks.

Future Work:

Look at effectiveness of fulldome planetariums on

controversial topics ...
 Worldview Network
(proposal submitted with David McConville, Ned Gardiner, Rachel Connolly,
Healy Hamilton)

1) Create real-time content modules in Uniview to teach climate change, ocean

acidification, biodiversity loss
2) Network planetariums with researchers who can provide science of bioregions of
interest
3) Professional Development to train planetarium professionals on these topics, real-
time narratives, storytelling
4) Partnerships with NGOs and other groups interested in ecological literacy –
audience opportunities for engagement
5) Evaluation of PD on planetarians, content on end audiences
May 2000 May 2006
Questions?