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, Valentina
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 - de Vries, Benjamin van Wyk
AU - Krokos, Mel
AU - Panieri, Giuliana
AU - Stiller-Reeve, Mathew Alexander
AU - Vizzari, Giuseppe
AU - Becciani, Ugo
AU - Tibaldi, Alessandro
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: 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’.
Funding Information:
TThheed diisssseemmiinnaattiioonne evveennttss ddeessccrriibbeedd bbeellooww wweerree hheellddbbeettwweeeenn 22001188aanndd 22001199 iinn IIttaallyy,, GGrreeeeccee,,aannddAAuussttrriiaa.. EEaacchhppaarrttiicciippaanntt wwaassooffffeerreedd tthhee ppoossssiibbiilliittyyttooeexxpplloorreettwwoo vvirirttuuaall ggeeoossiitteess ooff tthheeiirr ppeerrssoonnaall cchhooiiccee,, eeaacchh ffoorr ffiivvee mmiinnuutteess,, ffoorr aa ttoottaall ooff 1100 mmiinn ffoorr eeaacchh ppaarrtticicipipaanntt,,dduurrininggwwhhicichhththeeyyt rtrieiedda allllt hthrereeen naavvigigaatitoionnm mooddees.s. DDuurriinnggtthheevviirrttuuaall eexxpplloorraattiioonn,, eeaacchhuusseerrwwaass ssuuppppoorrtteedd bbyy aa ttrraaiinneedd ssttaaffff mmeemmbbeerr,, who was knowledgeable about the virtual geosites and the use of the immersive tools. The aim was to offer a navigation tutorial to the user, so that they could quickly grasp the main geological and geomorphological features of the selected site. The dissemination events were as follows: 1. Title: Field exploration using immersive virtual reality in the framework of the “B.Inclusion days” (https://www.unimib.it/eventi/binclusion-days-2018), held at the University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy. This event was supported by the EGU 2018 Public Engagement Grant (https://www.egu.eu/news/400/egu-2018-public-engagement-grants-awarded-to-suzanne-imber-and-fabio-bonali/) and was held in collaboration with the Disability and DSA (Disabled Students’ Allowance) service of the University of Milan-Bicocca (https://en.unimib.it/services/bicocca-campus/disability) (10 Octo-ber 2018). During this event we collected feeback from 25 participants aged 20–56. 2. Title: Santorini Summer School, in the framework of the EU Erasmus + Project— Bringing the 3D-world into the classroom: a new approach to Teaching, Learning and Communicating the science of geohazards in terrestrial and marine environments
Funding Information:
(http://3dtelc.lmv.uca.fr/). This event was held in Santorini (Thira), Greece (12–21 October 2018). On this occasion, we collected 14 feedback forms from participants aged 23–30. Title: Volcano-tectonic applications using immersive virtual reality. This event was held in Milan, Italy, at the University of Milan-Bicocca, in the framework of a class in active tectonics and volcano tectonic settings held by Prof. Alessandro Tibaldi (https: //en.unimib.it/alessandro-tibaldi) (10 January 2019). During this event we collected 10 feedback forms from participants aged 22–24. Title: Geological exploration without barriers: Shaping geological 3D virtual field-surveys for overcoming motor disabilities, held at the University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy (16 January 2019). This event was supported by the EGU 2018 Public Engagement Grant (https://www.egu.eu/news/400/egu-2018-public-engagement-grants-awarded-to-suzanne-imber-and-fabio-bonali/) and was held in collaboration with the Disability and DSA (Disabled Students’ Allowance) service of the University of Milano-Bicocca (https://en.unimib.it/services/bicocca-campus/disability). At this event we collected 37 feedback forms and the age of the participants was 19–59. Title: Geological exploration using Immersive Virtual Reality. This event was held in Milan at the University of Milan-Bicocca (https://www.unimib.it/eventi/realta-virtuale-immersiva-esplorare-territorio) in the framework of the Digital Week event (https:// www.milanodigitalweek.com/), Italy (16 March 2019). During this event we collected data from 24 participants, the age of participants ranging 20–73. Title: Primavera in Bicocca 2019 (https://www.unimib.it/sites/default/files/orientamento/ programma_primavera_in_bicocca_2019.pdf) (21 March 2019). This event was held in Milan at the University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy. During this event we collected 10 feedback forms and the participants’ age was 18–20. Title: Geological exploration without barriers in tour. This event was held at the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), Catania, Italy and was supported by Argo3D funding (https://argo3d.unimib.it/) (30 March 2019). During this event we collected 21 questionnaires, and the age of the participants was 13–18. Title: Virtual reality for geohazards and geological studies, held in Vienna during the EGU General Assembly 2019 (https://www.egu2019.eu/), Austria Center, Austria (7–12 April 2019). The event was supported by the EGU outreach committee (https: //www.egu.eu/outreach/). On this occasion we collected 155 feedback forms and the age of the participants was 21–70. Title: 3D and immersive Virtual Reality: new frontiers in geological exploration. This event was held during the MeetMeTonight event (https://www.meetmetonight.it/), at the Natural Sciences Museum of Milan, Italy (27–28 September 2019). During this event we collected 163 feedback forms, and the age of the participants was 13–66.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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.
KW - education
KW - Etna
KW - geology
KW - Iceland
KW - immersive virtual reality
KW - photogrammetry
KW - Santorini
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121835692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/geosciences12010009
DO - 10.3390/geosciences12010009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121835692
SN - 2076-3263
VL - 12
JO - Geosciences (Switzerland)
JF - Geosciences (Switzerland)
IS - 1
M1 - 9
ER -