3D visualisations of the future coastline

Visualising coastal futures: Technologies for decision making in participatory coastal management

Tyndall Research Theme 4 - Sustaining the Coastal Zone
Project ID - T2.43

Primary contact: Dr Andy Jones

The following information is available on this project:

Technical Summary

A key challenge facing environmental scientists and managers is to widen public consultation and strengthen participation during the selection of environmental management options, and to improve the information dissemination process once decisions have been made. Current methods of communication, such as the generation of large technical documents, have been criticised as being only understandable by experts, as opposed to those people who will often be impacted the most by decisions being conveyed. One technology that holds the potential to widen and improve communication in environmental management is Virtual Reality Geographical Information Systems (VRGIS). VRGIS allow virtual reality simulations to be produced that depict how environments may look in the future. Users are able to explore these simulations, which may be placed on the Web, and gain their own understanding of how the environments will change. Such technologies undoubtedly hold considerable potential, yet we need to understand how people react to and interpret them. Using a case study of the coastal nature reserve of Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, this research will develop virtual reality simulations of how this part of the coast may, in the future, respond to climate change driven management interventions. Using experimental methodologies, the work will then test how members of the public and stakeholders respond to these simulations, and we will study the ways in which they could be incorporated into formal consultation and decision making processes.