{"id":304406,"date":"2012-02-16T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?p=304406"},"modified":"2016-10-13T09:55:24","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T16:55:24","slug":"new-way-visualize-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/new-way-visualize-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Way to Visualize Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Douglas Gantenbein, Senior Writer, Microsoft News Center<\/em><\/p>\n

As the state geologist for Arizona, Lee Allison knows granite from sandstone, a syncline from an anticline. But he has lacked the ability to look through rocks to visualize the inner workings of the Earth.<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/p>\n

\"Layerscape\"In the past year, Allison has been using a Microsoft Research-developed tool called Layerscape<\/a>. Based on the popular WorldWide Telescope (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, also developed by Microsoft Research, Layerscape is a cloud-based instrument that enables earth scientists to analyze and visualize massive amounts of data. With Layerscape, scientists can create three-dimensional virtual tours of the Earth; explore new ways of looking at Earth and oceanic data; and build predictive models in areas such as climate change, health epidemics, and oceanic shifts.<\/p>\n

In Arizona, Allison is using Layerscape to create detailed models of the state\u2019s landscape to help policymakers create ways to manage groundwater, map geothermal resources, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Layerscape, we can look not only across the surface and bring in all the geologic maps,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re also bringing in the subsurface data\u2014the millions of boreholes, water wells, oil and gas wells\u2014and looking down in 3-D and bringing that information together to create a 3-D visualization that we’ve never been able to do before.<\/p>\n

\u201cLayerscape is giving us a visualization capability to show decision-makers, to show industry, to show the public how to use this scientific data and what the implications of it are to their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extending Capabilities<\/h2>\n

WorldWide Telescope, which launched in 2008, gives users an observatory housed within a PC. But it always was more than a way to explore space. It also offered a trove of information drawn from scholarly publications and databases, giving users detailed information about nearly any astronomical body.<\/p>\n

Layerscape, says Rob Fatland, Microsoft Research Connections<\/a> research program manager and Layerscape evangelist, builds on that approach in the service of earth sciences\u2014geology, climatology, oceanography, glaciology, and other disciplines devoted to studying our planet.<\/p>\n

\"Rob

Rob Fatland<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the big challenges for the environmental scientist is managing the flow and the visualization of research data, Fatland says. Layerscape uses the power of a PC\u2019s graphics processor to visualize large amounts of data in space and in time. It can be used to render 3-D visualizations from data sets such as historical surface-temperature measurements, chlorophyll concentration, seismic activity, greenhouse-gas diffusion, sea-ice extent, wind patterns, ocean pH\u2014even the drift of Saharan dust as it fuels plankton blooms across the surface of the Atlantic Ocean with nitrogen and iron.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives scientists a way to generate a story about their data\u2014to visualize and tell stories around complex data sets,\u201d Fatland says. \u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re given the camera and lighting and a film crew, and you can change the story and edit it any way you wish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fatland has created a webpage with demonstrations of Layerscape\u2019s capabilities, such as the way it enabled one contributor to visualize earthquake activity near Samoa and Japan.<\/p>\n

Feedback Incorporated<\/h2>\n

Layerscape was first shown in beta version in San Francisco during December\u2019s meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). On Feb. 16, it was released, incorporating feedback received after the AGU meeting.<\/p>\n

Layerscape will provide scientists and researchers from multiple earth-science disciplines with three key features:<\/p>\n