tkt8763-01: Mississippi's holodeck

[Alan F Brown <abrown@ra.msstate.edu>]

MSU recently received a 10 million dollar grant from NASA to extend
knowledge regarding remote sensing (including Geographic Information
Systems - GIS, and Global Positioning Systems - GPS) technologies within
both the research arena and the work force.

This is one area of technology in which Mississippi is in a very strong
position of leadership. NASA's space shuttle program has been conducting
research in remote sensing from space for many years. The dividends to us 
earth-bounders is now becoming evident, and the Stennis Space Center
(closely partnered with MSU) is positioned to be THE international
resource.

In a recent grants administration meeting I heard about the following: 
Right here on campus - at the Engineering Research Center -  there is a
gadget that's being only half tongue-in-cheek referred to as the
"holodeck". It allows the user to combine data that was collected with
aerial photography, radar, GPS, soil type and topography maps, ground
surveys, timber cruises, etc, etc, etc... and then interact with his/her
data by stepping into a 360 degree/3 dimensional projection of it. The
user can virtually go into the data.

An example: the user can virtually fly over a forest canopy, identify
problem areas and descend into the canopy . . . check out competition in
the forest understory and conditions for wildlife habitat on the forest
floor, maybe identify a disease or insect infestation, and determine
management prescriptions - all without getting that pesky pine resin on
his/her boots.

My lay-person understanding of all this is, I'm sure, not entirely
accurate, but this much is clear: the technology offers some truly
revolutionary ways to inteact with and visualize data.

I wonder if Massachusetts has a holodeck?

******************************************************************************
Alan F. Brown
"An iron clad rule of nature is that there are consequences for self
deception."     Lewis J. Perleman
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