Abstract

Generating and Exploring Virtual Reconstructions of Past Landscapes
Track: New Technology and System Integration
Author(s): Susan Bergeron

Recent advancements in geovisualization and immersive environments offer the opportunity to generate digital representations of historical landscapes, and embed those landscapes with information from multiple sources. The development of these technologies and their application to historical geography research has opened up new opportunities to synthesize historical records from disparate sources and embed these qualitative data within the virtual reconstruction. This paper discusses the development of a virtual reconstruction for a historic town, utilizing Microsoft's XNA Framework game development environment to create an application with the same level of graphical capability and navigability as leading entertainment video games. More importantly, the .NET-based XNA Framework allows the integration of GIS functionality through Esri's ArcObjects customization tools.Embedded within the virtual reconstruction, multimedia sources provide historical information that can be accessed through interaction with features in the digital landscape. In addition, linked GIS functions provide spatial analytic tools for landscape analysis.

Susan Bergeron
West Virginia University
Dept of Geology and Geography
330 Brooks Hall
Morgantown , West Virginia 26506
United States
Phone: 304-293-5603
E-mail: sue.bergeron@mail.wvu.edu