StoryMap VR Expeditions
“Over half (of respondents) have never owned a passport.” [source]
“Nearly 1 in 6 people have never traveled outside their own state.” [source]
Learning may be seldom benefitted by the walls of a classroom. Today, with increasing staff shortages, rising insurance and transportation costs, epidemic/pandemic viruses, and limited time, getting outside of the classroom is increasingly difficult. This becomes even more apparent when getting out of the classroom means traveling to a new place (near or far). Classroom field trips are few and far between today. Furthermore, this inability to experience new places doesn’t necessarily self-correct as we age.
The resurgence of Virtual Reality (VR) seems to be fueled by the marketing and technical pushes of the larger “metaverse”. Part of this advancement is evident in the increased number of manufacturers producing VR headsets (e.g. Apple, Meta Cambria, PlayStation 5, Pimax, Somnium Space) and VR content (e.g. Facebook/Meta, YouTube, Insta360). Using VR to create virtual classroom field trips is not new. One example of this was the launch of Google Cardboard in 2014 (now open sourced).
A Little History
Google Cardboard is basically a box that an Android-based (or iOS) smartphone could rest in. Remember “ViewMasters”? The Cardboard has two eye pieces and when stereoscopic content designed for consumption in the cardboard was viewed, it appeared to be “immersive” and viewable in 360 degrees. For classrooms, it was a hit, if the classroom had the wireless networks and a class set of Android devices to view the content. At that time, creating VR content was not really easy – creating the second “pain point” for massive adoption of the tech.
Over the last decade, newer 360 degree cameras have emerged (e.g. Insta360, Ricoh, GoPro) that are relatively simple to use yet powerful and affordable. These 360 degree cameras take pictures and video using an equirectangular format – that when viewed in Google Cardboard or an Oculus/Facebook/Meta style VR headset would again render an “immersive” image or video, viewable in all directions.
A sense of place
An image or video can describe a place like no other media. Maybe your students will read 1,000 words about a tall-grass prairie biome (they probably won’t) but imagine using immersive 360 degree imagery alongside a map. Use text minimally to identify key features or to explain a concept the image alone just doesn’t illustrate. Now, add a few more 360 degree images from a few more carefully selected locations in the tall grass prairie – that students can navigate to by map or image. Remember, these images are spherical – they’re immersive with a VR headset – and many 360 degree images can be served up to the learner with background sound or narration.
This blend of map, 360 degree imagery and video, 3D models (from CityEngine for example), and sound put the learner as close to being in the real space as possible today – without the cost, time, liability, or paperwork of leaving the four walls. I wouldn’t for a moment argue this is as good as getting kids into a tall grass prairie for an afternoon, but realistically, it offers a sense of place that textbooks alone can’t offer.
StoryMap VR expeditions
On the Esri Education Team, we’ve been exploring the blending of these media with maps. While there are only a dozen or so “expeditions” today, explore one of them. Most of the media will also render perfectly fine on a tablet or Chromebook, students just will not feel “immersed”.
View the growing StoryMaps VR expeditions at:
https://esriurl.com/expeditions
If you have a360 degree camera and would like to produce a virtual field trip (or get an existing field trip listed), please email me at tbaker@esri.com