Use of geodesign tools for visualisation of scenarios for an ecologically sensitive area at a local scale

Abstract

This study presents methods to create past, recent and alternate scenarios for an ecologically sensitive and development prone area in a sub-tropical coastal spit. A variety of geodesign tools were used for creating interactive 3d representations of the digital earth at a local scale. The geodesign tools included existing and archived high-resolution active and passive remote sensing datasets, existing, derived and digitised spatial layers together with products of procedural modelling. The 3d representations in virtual environments of different scenarios were further converted to a diverse variety of digital formats to enable their visualisation across diverse media that included interactive 3d scenes in geographical information systems (GIS), interactive web scenes on web browsers (desktops and smart devices), fly-through in generic movie formats and real 3d visualisation in the CAVE2 environment. This study discusses the utility of all the resources for planning curriculum and the potential of these resources to facilitate an understanding of alternate scenarios for citizens, stakeholders and new learners. Finally, this study evaluates sources while critically discussing openly shared resources in the context of collaborative planning with citizens, educators, students and planners.