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Humans are very good in using both hands and eyes for tactile pattern recognition: The german verb for understanding, "begreifen" literally means "getting a (tactile) grip on a matter". This proven and time honoured concept has been in use since prehistoric times. While the amount of scientific data continues to grow, researchers still need all the support to help them visualize the data content before their inner eye. Immersive data-visualisations are helpful, yet fail to provide tactile feedback as provided from tangible objects. The need for tangible representations of geospatial information to solve real world problems eventually led to the advent of 3d-globes by M. Behaim in the 15th century and has continued since. The production of a tangible representation of a scientific data set with some fidelity is just the final step of an arc, leading from the physical world into scientific reasoning and back: The process starts with a physical observation, or a model, by a sensor which produces a data stream which is turned into a geo-referenced data set. This data is turned into a volume representation which is converted into command sequences for the printing device, leading to the creation of a 3d-printout. Finally, the new specimen has to be linked to its metadata to ensure its scientific meaning and context. On the technical side, the production of a tangible data-print has been realized as a pilot workflow based on the Free and Open Source Geoinformatics tools GRASS GIS and Paraview to convert scientific data volume into stereolithography datasets (stl) for printing on a RepRap printer. The initial motivation to use tangible representations of complex data was the task of quality assessments on tsunami simulation data sets in the FP7 TRIDEC project (www.tridec-online.eu). For this, 3d-prints of space time cubes of tsunami wave spreading patterns were produced. This was followed by print-outs of volume data derived from radar sounders (MARSIS, SHARAD) imaging the north polar cap of Mars. While these first pilot applications have demonstrated the feasibility of the approach, further research is required to explore both the methodology and application scenarios.
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www.gfz-potsdam.de
Tangible 3D printouts of scientific data volumes with
FOSS - an emerging field for research Peter Löwe¹, Jens Klump¹, Jens Wickert², Marcel Ludwig², and Alessandro Frigeri³ ¹ Centre for Geoinformation Technology, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany ² GPS/Galileo Earth Observation, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany ³ INAF-Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica · Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology IAPS, Rome, Italy
Contact: [email protected]
3D printed Handpieces for Science Communication
Researchers need to communicate their findings both within Academia and towards the general public. This requires the interpretation of scientific data to reach the intended audiences. Since the rise of Geoinformatics, this task is often accomplished using computer based visualisations, ranging from animated movies to immersive virtual reality environments. 3D printing enables the creation of tangible representations of scientifc data, adding haptic perception as a channel for science communication, based on a rapid and affordable production process.
Towards a Scientific 3D Printing Process
The production of a tangible representation from a scientific data set is the final step of a larger process, linking the physical world and scientific reasoning: The process starts with an observation resulting in a geo-referenced data set. This data is turned into a volume representation for the printing device, leading to the creation of a 3D printout. Finally, the new 3D specimen has to be linked to its metadata to ensure its scientific meaning and context (Figure 2).
Free and Open Source GIS for Scientific 3D Printing A novel workflow based on the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) tools GRASS GIS and Paraview to convert scientific data volume into printable data formats has been developed by GFZ Potsdam. An extrusion deposition printer (RapMan) is used to create tangible scientific data printouts.
Application Fields
Tangible 3D printouts are used in several applications in Geography, Geology, Planetology and Tsunami Simulation: The initial motivation was quality assessment on tsunami simulation data sets in the FP7 TRIDEC project (www.tridec-online.eu). For this, 3D printouts of space time cubes of tsunami wave spreading patterns were produced. Other applications involve high resolution land surfaces (Figure 1), geologic layers (Figure 4) and ice deposits (Figure 2). Additional application fields are currently investigated.
Figure 2: A 3D print of the north polar cap of Mars (left) was produced based on a volume model produced by the italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) based on ground penetrating radar from the SHARAD and MARSIS sensors (right)[Frigeri 2012].
Figure 4: 3D printed stack of the underlying geology of the eastern german basin. The 3D prints depict permocarbon volcanics (red), Rotliegend sandstones (brown), permian Zechstein (blue), triassic Buntsandstein (purple), upper cretacious (green), and quaternary deposits (yellow).
Figure 1: 3D print of a landscape surface derived from a Laserscan Digital Elevation Model.
Figure 3: The 3D printing process for science data: Starting with a scientific data set, a printable representation is derived, resulting in the 3D printout. This printout must be connected to the metadata of the original data and the printing workflow.
