Welcome to the NCAR/CISL Meteo AR and VR Demo Page



Meteo AR
Meteo VR






                               



           



Meteo AR and Meteo VR are apps for exploring geoscience data from your mobile device.   They are free and available for download on iPhone and iPad devices at the Apple Store and for Android devices at Google Play.


About Meteo AR



Meteo AR is an Augmented Reality (AR) application that displays interactive virtual objects, like an animated globe or a hurricane, over real world imagery that is captured by your mobile device's camera.  The app works with the NCAR "science cube" or the downloadable "science sheets".  The science sheets are also available from within the Meteo AR app, and they include background information about the science topics like El Niņo, Hurricanes,  and Climate Change to help you understand and interpret what you are seeing.



Science Cube



Science Sheet


Using the app is simple! 
  1. If  you don't have a "science cube" you will need to download and print the science sheets (either in black and white or color). 
  2. Then download and install the Meteo AR app on your mobile device from the Apple Store or from Google Play. 
  3. Start the application and point your camera at the image on the science cube or the science sheet, making sure the small white blocks around the image are within the frame of your camera.
That's all there is to it!  An interactive science object will appear on your screen.

WARNING:  This app uses data that is downloaded during runtime.  To avoid carrier charges, ensure that you are connected to WiFi.



Directions for interaction



About Meteo VR


Meteo VR is a Virtual Reality (VR) application that works with inexpensive devices like Google Cardboard to turn your mobile phone into a 3D VR platform for exploring geoscience data.  Google Cardboard is available for purchase from many online retailers.  Search "Google Cardboard."  Note: make sure the cardboard device has an "interactive click button". 



Using the App

WARNING:  This app uses data that is downloaded during runtime.  To avoid carrier charges, ensure that you are connected to WiFi.
Read product safety information:  https://vr.google.com/cardboard/product-safety

  1. Download the Meteo VR app from the Apple or Google Play stores and install on your mobile phone. 
  2. Start the app and place your phone into the cardboard device per the viewer instructions.
  3. Select options by rotating your head to move the red dot over a desired option.  To select, press the interactive click button on the cardboard viewer.
  4. Optionally download the science sheets, which provide more information about each science topic.

Navigation and Options






To begin, move the red dot over a dataset and press the interactive click button to select.
In this example, we select the El Niņo option.




Rotate your head to see an animated globe showing changes in surface temperature anomalies over time.  

The green band around the globe indicates the progress of downloaded images.

To skip to a specific time step, just click a location on the green band.




The location menu provides options for quickly changing the view to a specific region.




Control the playback speed by selecting the playback controls.   The four buttons allow you to slow, stop/start, reset, and speed up the animation.

By default the globe will slowly rotate.  Select the Autopilot button to enable control over the rotation.  When autopilot is selected, point and click in the direction of the desired rotation.




"Uniform Lighting" toggles the lighting model on the object.

Navigation Buttons
"Free Flight (Buttons)" : Fly around scene in the direction of the red dot.  Select the "+" button to speed up, the "-" button to slow down.  "Start" toggles movement.
"Free Flight (Gaze)" :  Fly around scene in the direction of the red dot.  Clicking will start and stop movement.
"Fixed Orbit Mode":  Default, fixed view.   Only the globe rotates.



To return to the main menu and select a different dataset, tilt the viewer 90 degrees.






Credits: NCAR/UCAR (CISL, SIParCS), Arizona State University

The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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