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UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 19 | November 29, 2001

Stakeholders picture a forest, thanks to lab

Visualization aids in planning sustainability

The opportunity to gaze into a forest's future is likely to be a popular attraction for those planning to take in the Faculty of Forestry's 50th anniversary celebrations on Dec. 3.

They'll be able to look decades and even centuries ahead, thanks to a research facility called the Landscape Immersion Lab (LIL).

Using three projectors and an Infinite Reality SGI supercomputer acquired through a grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the LIL immerses viewers into a panoramic view of a forested landscape by projecting images onto large wrap-around screens.

By projecting both panoramic photographs and visualizations of existing, past and future landscapes, the LIL provides researchers and community groups with a tool to compare the outcomes of forest development or land use plans.

The "virtual reality" techniques can give viewers the experience of being in the actual place with freedom to look around or even move through the landscape. At the same time, viewers can also access important information on the screens, such as ecological condition or land ownership.

According to the interdisciplinary researchers at UBC's Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP) which developed the facility, the ability to explain and analyse a variety of social, economic and environmental outcomes makes the lab a uniquely valuable tool in sustainable forestry management and in public forestry planning consultations.

"It's all about democratizing the process," says Stephen Sheppard, an associate professor in both Landscape Architecture and Forest Resources Management, and a co-founder of CALP.

"By presenting complex information via landscape visualizations which depict conditions over time, we hope to create a more inclusive and informed way of making decisions."

CALP members will demonstrate the LIL on Dec. 3 from 1: 30-3:30 p.m. at the lab which is in the Forest Sciences Centre.


More information

Faculty of Forestry's 50th anniversary events www.forestry.ubc.ca/anniversary/index.htm


See also:

'Think world-class, think B.C.:' dean's aim

New forester blend sciences

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Last reviewed 22-Sep-2006

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