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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