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Using virtual reality systems in natural disasters

发布时间:2017-03-24
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Can virtual reality systems accurately determine results of natural disasters and what benefit they provide?

INTRODUCTION

Despite of all the scientific and technological advancements that we reached within the last century, and despite of the greater knowledge that we obtained concerning nature, its elements, and how it functions, natural disasters are still claiming enormous numbers of human lives each year. The human cost, even though it is the most important factor of all, is not the only one; as economic and financial losses caused by natural disasters are incalculable.

As a matter of fact natural disasters are more than just ugly events that take place in a variety of geographical locations; instead we have always experienced them throughout our history on the planet. Many people think that such events are inevitable as they consider them well beyond our ability of prediction. Still, just as we did with all the other subjects that affect our livelihood, we have studied them, watched them, tracked them, and lived through them. Natural disasters are a solid and clear reminder of the dynamic nature of the Earth which steadily goes through evolving, changing, transforming processes.

El-Shaarawi and Piegorsch (2002) state that “natural disasters are the interaction of naturally occurring hazards with human populations... Natural disasters are often defined in social and economic terms, one common definition being that the community involved cannot recover without external help... A hazard only becomes a disaster when it occurs where people live... Risk of natural disasters is growing globally since our populations are becoming more urban... In combination with these urban populations, people are also living in more vulnerable areas; near coasts, on flood plains and in earthquake regions.”

The capabilities and the tools that computer science and information technology are now able to provide us with can change the way in which we deal with such events and the way in which we can prepare for and protect ourselves from an expected natural disaster. Such computer systems can provide information about the course a certain disaster can take, how it is expected to act, and what should be done about it. This can be done with a high level of accuracy because of the huge achievements in many fields of study; mainly satellite systems communications, computer systems, the geographical and geological sciences, and through the development of a field related to computer programming and software; which is virtual reality.

VIRTUAL REALITY

The desire to create worlds that simulate reality, or even that are fictional, allowing the users to live within them as if they were interacting with the same elements that they encounter in real life, is not a new one, but the possibility to create such invented experiences became much more feasible today with the use of computer systems especially after the advancements in the methods of programming and the technological enhancements on what concerns hardware components.

According to Microsoft Encarta (2005), virtual reality is a “system that enables one or more users to look, move, and react in a computer-simulated world. Various types of interface devices allow users to have the illusory experiences of seeing, touching, picking up, and even manipulating virtual (simulated) objects. Virtual worlds and everything in them (including computer images of the participants) are represented by mathematical models and computer programs.”

A more detailed, and somewhat technical, definition is stated by Jounghyun Kim (2005) as he states that virtual reality “is a field of study that aims to create a system that provides a synthetic experience for its user(s). The experience is dubbed ‘synthetic,’ ‘illusory,’ or ‘virtual’ because the sensory stimulation to the user is simulated and generated by the ‘system.’ For all practical purposes, the system usually consists of various types of displays for delivering the stimulation, sensors detect user actions, and a computer that processes the user action and generates the display output.” The author explains that in order to create such an experience, computer programmers construct computer models; known as virtual environments (VE).

The applications of virtual reality are wide ranging. Virtual reality can be applied in fields such as medicine, education, telecommunication, and entertainment. Kent et al. (1997) state that “the predominant applications of virtual reality are in the military, business, medicine, and entertainment. Pilots learn to fly virtual planes through virtual terrain, encountering virtual enemies before tackling the real thing. An architect can walk his client through a virtual model of a planned building, rearranging furniture and structures as they go. Music enthusiasts can play with their own band and make their own rock video. Musicians are freed from the constraints of their instruments, playing virtual instruments while on stage. Surgical residents practice surgery on virtual patients, shrinking in size to take a closer look at their work and its effect.”

NATURAL DISASTERS AND VIRTUAL REALITY

As mentioned earlier, virtual reality can be applied to different fields when the required conclusion is to create an environment where users can live within and feel all the effects of its elements as in the real world. But this is only one facet of the applications of virtual reality: As explained by Whyte (2002), there are different types of virtual reality systems; which are immersive, non-immersive, and augmented reality systems. Non-immersive systems use the same hardware techniques but “the system does not totally immerse the viewer. Sometimes described as window-on-a-world systems, they allow the user to see virtual reality through a screen or display that does not take up their total field of view.” And this is precisely the type that can be, and is being, used for what concerns achieving a better understanding of natural disasters and their predicted effects.

We know that many aspects of scientific research today depend on computer-simulated systems. This includes the study of physical, chemical, and medical related arguments. Computer weather forecasting, for example, “is based on numeric simulation of the physical processes that produce actual weather. Those laws take the form of mathematical equations. If you can solve those equations, you know exactly how the atmosphere will behave and you can predict the weather exactly... Simulated weather system inside the computer is called a computer model of the real thing” (Eck 2000). If, depending on the data that are provided by such a simulated system along with data and images provided by previous weather related events, such models can be processed through the use of a virtual reality system, we can reach an acceptable level of knowledge regarding how such events can affect populated areas, how they move and in what directions, and we can create a plan that enables us to face them and avoid any serious consequences. Veltman (2006) explains that “virtual reality became linked with simulations. One could use it to visualize, for instance, the development of a major storm or tornado in order better to predict the consequences of natural disasters”

In other cases, we find that some satellites are now being deployed in order to provide us with warnings when a natural disaster is imminent: “Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are used for rapid warning of the impending arrival of tsunami waves... Digital elevation matrices can be combined with satellite imagery to create virtual-reality scenarios that help visualize landscapes and their hazards more precisely” (Alexander 2000).

Another application in the field in question is VRGIS which is a combination of two technologies; Geographical Information Systems and Virtual Reality. Merging the two technologies became possible because of “the use of powerful desktop computers, ... the re-evaluation of VR as a simulation of reality rather than imitation of it,... and the rise of the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) standard coupled with a range pf software tools that accompany it” (Fisher 2002). GIS is important as an instrument in studying the effects of environmental change, in what concerns world population growth and control, and in what concerns deforestation and natural disasters, to mention a few.

Earthquakes are considered to be one of the major natural disasters in the world especially when it comes to the destruction they bring to buildings and constructions essential for the lives and careers of people. Some researchers are working on systems that integrate different technologies in order to be able to reach construction methods that provide buildings with the required resistance. “The Digital Disaster Reduction System (DDRS) would be a specially designed system to study seismic damages that may happen to real structures during real earthquakes. The DDRS is constituted by integrating of computer hardware and software, supported by the large-scale database, Remote Sensing, Global Positioning System, Geographic Information System and Virtual Reality technology, with rational mathematical and physical models of disasters and high-fidelity simulation as the core of the system to simulate the whole process of seismic disasters. The proposed DDRS could be applied as a powerful tool not only for seismic disasters study but also for other natural disaster research” (Spencer and Hu 2001).

CONCLUSION

There are still many steps needed before we can reach an infallible virtual reality system that can predict natural disasters and that can accurately warn us, with a sufficient amount of time, before a major natural disaster takes place, but this is a field of research and study that is worth the investments and the time dedicated to it.

It is evident that virtual reality can be deployed as an effective tool for studying almost all kinds of natural disasters and in preparing for them in ways that can prevent human and material losses.

This technology can also be of great help when it comes to better understand the natural processes of the planet, how they form, behave, and in which ways we can be affected by them on the short and the long terms.

Works Cited

“Virtual Reality.” (2005) Microsoft Encarta 2006 [CD]. Microsoft Corporation.

El-Shaarawi, A. and Piegorsch, W. (2002) Encyclopedia of Environmetrics. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Jounghyun Kim, G. (2005) Designing Virtual Reality Systems: The Structured Approach. London, UK: Springer-Verlag London Limited.

Kent et al. (1997) Encyclopedia of Microcomputers. New York, N.Y.: Marcel Dekker, Inc.

Eck, D. (2000) The Most Complex Machine: A Survey of Computers and Computing. Natick, MA: A K Peters, Ltd.

Veltman, K. (2006) Understanding New Media: Augmented Knowledge & Culture. Alberta, Canada: The University of Calgary Press.

Alexander, D. (2000) Confronting Catastrophe: New Perspectives on Natural Disasters. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.

Fisher, P. (2002) Virtual Reality in Geography. London, UK: Taylor & Francis.

Spencer, F. and Hu, Y. (2001) Earthquake Engineering Frontiers in the New Millennium. Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger B.V.

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