Virtual and Immersive Environments

STACHOŇ, Zdeněk, Petr KUBÍČEK and Lukáš HERMAN. Virtual and Immersive Environments. Online. In Wilson, J. P. The Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge. 3rd Quarter 2020 Edition. Ithaca, New York: UCGIS, 2020. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.22224/gistbok/2020.3.9.

Basic information

• Original name: Virtual and Immersive Environments
• Authors: STACHOŇ, Zdeněk (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Petr KUBÍČEK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Lukáš HERMAN (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: 3rd Quarter 2020 Edition. Ithaca, New York, The Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge, 2020.
• Publisher: UCGIS

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Teaching aids, texts (including individual chapters in textbooks)
• Field of Study: 10508 Physical geography
• Country of publisher: United States of America
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: electronic version available online
• WWW: on-line verze kapitoly
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14310/20:00116590
• Organization unit: Faculty of Science
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.22224/gistbok/2020.3.9
• Keywords in English: interactive design techniques; virtual reality; immersion; head-mounted display; cognition; CAVE
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

A virtual environment (VE) is a 3D computer-based simulation of a real or imagined environment in which users can navigate and interactive with virtual objects. VEs have found popular use in communicating geographic information for a variety of domain applications. This entry begins with a brief history of virtual and immersive environments and an introduction to a common framework used to describe characteristics of VEs. Four design considerations for VEs then are reviewed: cognitive, methodological, social, and technological. The cognitive dimension involves generating a strong sense of presence for users in a VE, enabling users to perceive and study represented data in both virtual and real environments. The methodological dimension covers methods in collecting, processing, and visualizing data for VEs. The technological dimension surveys different VE hardware devices (input, computing, and output devices) and software tools (desktop and web technologies). Finally, the social dimension captures existing use cases for VEs in geo-related fields, such as geography education, spatial decision support, and crisis management.