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KN - Jou nal o Ca og aphy and Geog aphic In o ma ion (2021) 71:221–222
h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/s42489-021-00094-z
EDITORIAL
Vi ual andAugmen ed Reali y inSpa ial Visualiza ion
DennisEdle 1 · ThomasP.Ke s en2
Published online: 30 No embe 2021
© The Au ho (s) 2021
In ecen yea s, he po en ials o i ual and augmen ed
eali y (VR/AR) ha e a ac ed a g owing in e disciplina y
communi y o in e na ional esea che s and use s. Nume ous
p ojec s exis in esea ch ields, such as cul u al he i age and
a chi ec u e, u ban and egional planning, cons uc ion plan-
ning and p oduc de elopmen , aining simula ions (e.g.,
escue se ices) and educa ion. While AR is commonly
unde s ood as an ex ension o obse able eali y h ough
he combina ion o eali y and i uali y, VR is associa ed
wi h he isualiza ion and simul aneous eal- ime pe cep ion
o eali y and i s physical cha ac e is ics wi hin in e ac i e
i ual en i onmen s.
In he VR and AR communi y, he yea 2015 is o en
associa ed wi h he ee elease o he Un eal Engine, a o -
me ly p op ie a y game engine used in he compu e gaming
indus y. The ee a ailabili y o es ablished game engines
has gi en a powe ul impulse o mode n isualiza ion dis-
ciplines. As game engines a e bound o an unde s anding o
‘wo ld-building’, he e e ence o geog aphic space (con-
ce ning i ual ep esen a ions o eal physical o ic ional
en i onmen s) is inhe en . The e o e, i is no su p ising ha
he e is a i id and s eadily ongoing in e na ional esea ch
deba e on how o use he po en ials o i ual en i onmen s
and augmen ed spaces o a use -o ien ed ca og aphy and
spa ial isualiza ion. Mo eo e , hese i ual o augmen ed
spa ial media can se e as ‘ i ual labs’ which a e used o
empi ical esea ch wi h s anda dized p ocedu es and o
isual analy ics.
The possibili ies o game engines u he bene i om
he a ailabili y and compa ibili y o mass media ha dwa e
sys ems, such as head-moun ed displays (HMDs) o sma -
phones. These echnical de ices s eng hen he eeling o
imme sion in o hese solely i ual o i ually ex ended
en i onmen s, which leads o new capabili ies o expe ienc-
ing a ealis ic 3D en i onmen om an ego-pe spec i e in
a simula ed 1/1 scale. The demand o a high ealism also
bea s po en ials o he in eg a ion and ans o ma ion o a-
di ional and new geospa ial da a esou ces, such as emo ely
sensed da a, 3D ci y models as well as hema ic asse s c e-
a ed by p o essionals o ‘home b ewe s’.
This special issue is a collec ion o cu en esea ch
p ojec s showing he po en ials o AR and VR, wi h a spe-
ci ic ocus on he isualiza ion o spa ial in o ma ion. I is
pa o he wo k o he DG K/DGPF join commission on
“Vi ual and Augmen ed Reali y” ( ounded in 2019):
Ian Lochhead and Nick Hedley (Bu naby, BC, Canada)
de eloped a p o o ype o an imme si e i ual GIScience
da a isualiza ion space called “IVEVA”. In hei a icle,
hey p esen a collec ion o 3D da a-d i en geo isualiza-
ion case s udies based on he IVEVA VR in e ace. Thei
examples and esul s show he po en ials o VR in e aces
o imme si e isual analy ics.
Thomas P. Ke s en, Daniel D enkhan and Simon Deggim
(Hambu g) add ess he opic o pe o mance o smoo h
eal- ime VR isualiza ion. Using a case example in he
ield o cul u al he i age, he Fo ess Al Zuba ah in Qa a ,
hey conduc and discuss a pe o mance analysis o eal- ime
isualiza ion in VR.
Claudia Lindne , Anne e O wein, Kilian S aa and
And eas Rienow (Bochum) p o ide insigh s on how VR and
AR echniques se e o isualize ex a- e es ial da a. These
VR and AR applica ions a e de eloped o educa ional pu -
poses and deal wi h case examples on Ma s.
Tymo eusz Ho biński and K zysz o Zaga a (Poznań,
Poland) add ess he meaning o ca og aphic symbols used
in he Video Valheim. The se o symbols used in his game
adap he his o ical con ex o he Viking e a. Using an
online su ey, he au ho s empi ically in es iga e in e p e-
a ions o he ca og aphic symbols.
* Dennis Edle
Dennis.Edle @ uh -uni-bochum.de
Thomas P. Ke s en
Thomas.Ke s[email p o ec ed]
1 Ruh -Uni e si ä Bochum, Geog aphisches Ins i u , AG
Geoma ik, Uni e si ä ss . 150, 44801Bochum, Ge many
2 Labo ü Pho og amme ie andLase scanning, Ha enCi y
Uni e si ä Hambu g, Henning-Vosche au-Pla z 1,
20457Hambu g, Ge many
222 KN - Jou nal o Ca og aphy and Geog aphic In o ma ion (2021) 71:221–222
1 3
F ank Dickmann, Julian Keil, Paula L. Dickmann and
Dennis Edle (Bochum) gi e an o e iew o impo an
isualiza ion p ope ies o cu en AR echniques. Thei
po en ials and limi a ions o ca og aphic applica ions a e
discussed.
Ola Kühne (Tübingen) links cu en de elopmen s o VR
and VA wi h ca og aphic heo y o ma ion. Based on Ka l
Poppe ’s heo y o h ee wo lds, he discusses he ela ion o
a amewo k o neop agma ic explo a ion wi h VR and AR
isualiza ions.
We hope you enjoy eading he a icles o his special
issue, and we a e looking o wa d o mee ing all VR/AR
in e es ed people a he nex DG K and DGPF e en s and
con e ences.
Funding Open Access unding enabled and o ganized by P ojek
DEAL.
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