Terraviz: Working With Big Data Using Unity

Abstract

We believe that to have an impact on society, data should be easy to find, access, visualize and understand. Built using the Unity game engine, TerraViz is designed to facilitate this process by visualizing information from the past, present, and future. The goal is to ingest big data and convert that information into efficient formats for real-time visualization. Designed for a world where everything is in motion, TerraViz allows fluid interaction across 4D time and space, providing a tool for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) vast collection of information. This presentation will cover displaying various types of data in Unity at a global scale, visualizing regional information in “geo-located scenes” including coastal flooding or volumetric cloud structure, and developing environmental simulations such as exploring the ocean floor in a remotely operated vehicle.