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BGSU ‘virtual worlds' devotees headed to Europe

 

Dr. Larry Hatch, professor of visual communications technology in the College of Technology at Bowling GreenState University, works with "Digital Magician" student Eric Gang (seated) as they access a new virtual reality projectcalled The Alamo:A Pocket Virtual World. The cyber-hotshots plan to use state-of-the-art digital technology toconstruct a visual panorama of the Alamo National Park that visitors can actually walk through instead of merelyobserving it on a two-dimensional computer screen.

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Travelers from Bowling Green State University will take a lot of pictures during astudy abroad experience in Europe over the next year, but many of the photos won't end up in albums.Instead, they will go into Pocket Virtual Worlds Ô .

Pocket Virtual Worlds Ô is new technology that allows for navigation of virtual environments while peopleare actually walking around and exploring the real environments. The photographs are used to create thepanoramas in which people can navigate by using a personal digital assistant (PDA).

The technology's co-developer is Dr. Larry Hatch, a professor and chair of visual communication andtechnology education at BGSU, who leaves for Europe on July 18. Traveling with him will be four students in his Digital Media Research Group. They will be based in Salzburg, Austria, where they willwork with faculty and students at the University of Applied Sciences (“Fachhochschule”).

Hatch spent three days in Salzburg as part of an international delegation when the university openedabout 18 months ago. When the institution sought exchange possibilities, the BGSU professor thought itwould be a good place for his students to interact with international colleagues and share complementaryresearch. That research includes Pocket Virtual Worlds Ô , and, as Hatch points out, Europe offers “allsorts of things to photograph and put in this technology.”

The premise of the new technology is this: if a panorama represents a single point in space, then an arrayof panoramas is a virtual world. In the photographic environment, the navigation mode allows users towalk on a map that, like a Global Positioning System (GPS), moves under the person to provide areal-world connection and physical sense of scale. At key areas of the map, the system switches topanorama mode, allowing a 360-degree view. Unlike GPS, it works indoors or outdoors.

“Every time you take a step, you see a world from a different perspective,” Hatch said, explaining that aPocket Navigator Ô worn on the hip uses Bluetooth and location-aware technology. The navigator provides directional and distance information directly to the PDA, transforming body movement into agiant game controller that navigates the world automatically.

Hatch sees a variety of educational possibilities for the technology, including the benefit of gettingyoungsters away from their computer monitors. The system can make visits to museums more interactiveand take youngsters directly to places possibly otherwise out of reach, such as the Eiffel Tower or theAlamo.

Hatch and the technology's co-developer, Jared Bendis of Case Western Reserve University, alreadyhave taken about 230 panoramic photos at the Alamo to create a working prototype for the Pocket VirtualWorlds Ô system.

The BGSU professor said the technology will be expanded into a Pocket Mobile Gaming Ô system that,

 

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BGSU :: Offices :: BGSU ‘virtual worlds' devotees headed to Europe http://bgsu.edu/offices/mc/news/2007/news32599

of 2 7.6.07 9:20

in the gaming mode, can help children learn colors and shapes, sign language or another spokenlanguage.

Traveling to Austria with Hatch will be BGSU juniors Alex Mach and Eric Gang, both from Centerville, andJason Mellen, of Palm Bay, Fla. and Brian King, from Elyria, both veteran undergraduate researchersstarting their first year as graduate students. Mach is a computer science major, while Gang is studyingvisual communication technology (VCT). King and Mellen are both graduating in VCT and are enrolled inthe master's degree program in career and technology education at BGSU.

Other members of the Digital Media Research Group come from different majors, including education, artand math. Working alongside his brightest peers both within VCT and outside the field "is nothing short of a dream come true," said Gang, who also called Pocket Virtual Worlds Ô "the beginning of a new andinnovative way to invoke learning."

Hatch recruited many of the research group students from a creative experience called ViaMedia.ViaMedia is comprised of top incoming VCT students who, led by senior managers, take on two or threeservice-learning projects in media each semester to help area businesses and nonprofit organizations.

"It's hard work," Hatch said. "It just happens to be something we like to do."

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Media Contact: Scott Borgelt, phone 419-372-2716.

(Posted July 03, 2007 )

 

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