Google Earth® Models with COLLADA and WxAzygy® Transparent Interface: An example from Grotto Creek, Front Ranges, Canadian Cordillera

Virtual globes represent a paradigm shift for geoscience education. It is now possible to explore real world experiences across the entire Earth, the Moon, and Mars, and also to combine multiple 2-D images into one 3-D image with topography. Models viewed in Google Earth® are more intuitive for visualizing 3-D geological structures than traditional paper maps and cross-sections. Here a student-constructed geological map and cross-sections from an introductory field school are used to illustrate the creation of a draped geological map over topography. A custom vertical slider elevates the cross-sections above topography and a horizontal slider restores thrust faulting. Models located in situ in topography are made queryable via a ‘cut-away’ using the WxAzygy® transparent interface.SOMMAIRE La notion de « globes virtuels » constitue un changement de paradigme dans le domaine de l’éducation en géoscience. Il est maintenant possible de traiter de la réalité de tous les recoins de la Terre, de la lune et de Mars, et aussi de combiner de multiples images 2-D en une image 3-D affichant la topographie. Les modèles de Google Earth® permettent une visualisation 3-D plus intuitive des structures géologiques que ne le permettent les cartes papiers usuelles et les coupes. Dans la présente, une carte géologique et une coupe réalisées par un étudiant d’un cours d’introduction au travail de terrain sont utilisées pour illustrer la confection d’une carte géologique appliquée sur la topographie correspondante. Un curseur vertical personnalisé dessine les coupes au-dessus de la topographie, et un curseur horizontal permet de restaurer les failles de chevauchement. Ces modèles ancrés au droit de la topographie peuvent être exploiter au moyen d’un écorché produit par l’interface transparent WxAzygy®

Scenes of provincial life: an online video sequence and commentary

I present here a sequence of short videos, Scenes of Provincial Life, forming a unified, ongoing online work. In my written commentary I discuss the work‘s context, genesis and facture and presentation and thereby demonstrate its claim to originality as art work. I go on to suggest one possible interpretive framework for it. I then discuss the nature of art works as candidates for the generation of new knowledge and conclude that art works in general fulfil this function, in a very carefully defined way, as a necessary condition of being art works. I further connect the success of any work as art work with the richness of its knowledge generating capacity, inseparably allied to its aesthetic force. I conclude that if Scenes of Provincial Life is seen to have value as artwork it will therefore by definition be a creator of new knowledge

A decade of modern cave surveying with terrestrial laser scanning: A review of sensors, method and application development

During the last decade, the need to survey and model caves or caverns in their correct three-dimensional geometry has increased due to two major competing motivations. One is the emergence of medium and long range terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technology that can collect high point density with unprecedented accuracy and speed, and two, the expanding sphere of multidisciplinary research in understanding the origin and development of cave, called speleogenesis. Accurate surveying of caves has always been fundamental to understanding their origin and processes that lead to their current state and as well provide tools and information to predict future. Several laser scanning surveys have been carried out in many sophisticated cave sites around the world over the last decade for diverse applications; however, no comprehensive assessment of this development has been published to date. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art three-dimensional (3D) scanning in caves during the last decade. It examines a bibliography of almost fifty high quality works published in various international journals related to mapping caves in their true 3D geometry with focus on sensor design, methodology and data processing, and application development. The study shows that a universal standard method for 3D scanning has been established. The method provides flexible procedures that make it adaptable to suit different geometric conditions in caves. Significant progress has also been recorded in terms of physical design and technical capabilities. Over time, TLS devices have seen a reduction in size, and become more compact and lighter, with almost full panoramic coverage. Again, the speed, resolution, and measurement accuracy of scanners have improved tremendously, providing a wealth of information for the expanding sphere of emerging applications. Comparatively, point cloud processing packages are not left out of the development. They are more efficient in terms of handling large data volume and reduced processing time with advanced and more powerful functionalities to visualize and generate different products

Using spatial-temporal maps for visualization of the karst development dynamics

Основная статьяThere is a problem of visualization dynamics of karst processes during territory monitoring. For this can be used geographic information system. All information on existing forms of karst processes can connected to the map based on the coordinates. But there is a need to include into GIS the information about the dynamics of the karst processes. There is a big problem to solve this task in traditional GIS. Development of karst processes has features that affect their visualization in GIS: the shape and the state of karst objects may change; existing karst forms can be replaced with new objects; the frequency of state changes and appearance of new objects is small; cartographic basis (map) may change as a result of the impact of natural phenomena and human activities. To solve the problem can be used spatial-temporal GIS. In paper the basic features of the karst processes development that affect their storage and display on maps are given. The questions of organization of karst processes dynamics visualization on the basis of spatial-temporal maps are presented. Practical issues of linking the objects in map, display of them geometry, determine temporal boundaries of objects existence are describes

USING 3-DIMENSIONAL MAPPING TO DETERMINE THE POSSIBILITY OF STRUCTURAL CONTROL ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE UPPER ORDOVICIAN LEXINGTON LIMESTONE, CENTRAL KENTUCKY, U.S.A.

The upper Lexington Limestone of Late Ordovician age has been interpreted to represent a structurally controlled, complex, facies mosaic. This facies mosaic has historically been interpreted to be a carbonate buildup of shoal complexes with interbedded shale units with intertonguing facies. Due to relatively recent advances in geographic-information-systems (GIS) mapping technologies, it is possible to generate three-dimensional (3-D) compatible maps to offer insight to the complexities of the upper Lexington Limestone and to determine if structural control affected the distribution of members. The resulting two-dimensional (2-D) and 3-D maps show that basement faults likely exerted a significant influence on facies distribution and formation. The 3-D maps further suggest that post-depositional structural activity during the Alleghanian orogeny resulted in large-scale deformation of the Lexington Limestone to generate structures like the Jessamine Dome

Contribution of Lasergrammetry, Photogrammetry and Electrical Tomography for the Survey and 3D Representation of Caves: Case Study of the Cave of Kef El Baroud, Province of Benslimane, Morocco

The modeling of caves is constantly evolving and the classic modeling tools are giving way to new techniques that are more precise and more practical, indeed scientists are increasingly using 3D modeling to improve the representations of caves, in this study we have used lasergrammetry and photogrammetry which occupy an increasing place in the 3D representation of caves. Their simplicity favors their use for recording and modeling the parietal morphology of caves and the detailed representation of the complexity of Endokarst. As part of the geomorphological study of the Kef El Baroud Cave which is located in the province of Benslimane in Morocco, two modeling methods were carried out, it is a digital survey by lasergrammetry and by photogrammetry of the cave. and its parietal morphologies. The study was completed by a topographical survey with a DistoX rangefinder. The geophysical contribution by electrical tomography was also carried out. The 3D terrestrial laser scanning technique was performed by a LEICA RTC 345 scanner. These measurements made it possible to reconstruct the evolutionary stages of the paragenetic morphologies, and their relationships with the local geomorphology, and the structural elements. The field measurements were integrated into the morphometric analyzes of the digital models, which allowed a large number of observations.The surveys also made it possible to compare the results with those of the photogrammetry carried out by a reflex camera and a wide-angle lens with appropriate editing software.Lasergrammetry and its application have enabled us to precisely position within the point cloud all the details of the covered wall, and thus constitutes, alongside photogrammetry, an interesting means for the geomorphological study of the Caves. An electrical tomography study was coupled with the other measurements and made it possible not only to delimit the walls of the Cave according to the resistivity gradients but also to detect the very probable presence of fractured zones under the Cave which could constitute an aquifer