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FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATION

Brian Kim

Epidemic Data Visualization in 2D and 3D A-Frame

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ORIGINAL PLAN

  • Original aims of my project:
    • Using data from John Snow’s famous 1854 cholera outbreak data visualizationWas not able to implement the following features:
    • Goal of three visualizations:
      • Original 1854 Map
      • Modernized 3D heat map in collaborative VR space
      • Modern map of London area in collaborative VR space

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1854 MAP

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IN-CLASS ACTIVITY MAP RESULTS

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IN-CLASS ACTIVITY MULTIPLAYER RESULTS

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IN-CLASS ACTIVITY RETROSPECTIVE

  • Broadly speaking, everyone did very well in finding the right epidemic starting point
  • More successful with 3D map than 2D map
    • Accounting for Professor’s point (technical limitations)
  • 3D collaborative space seems to have been both popular and easy to use
  • Most feedback focused on having more interactive avatars and a wider variety of data visualizations

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MODIFICATIONS AND CHANGES

  • Three major changes to my project:
    • Focused much more heavily on learning to use Python in Blender
      • Important for visualizing large amounts of data individually in Blender, with epidemic data
    • Spent a lot of time working on collaborative spaces in VR
      • Went through three different libraries
    • Delivered altered version of 3D London map
      • Unable to recreate using City Builder and Python, turned to VR Map

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FINAL RESULTS

  • Created VR heat map representation of pandemic data
    • Got exposure to using Python on large datasets in Blender
    • By far most time-consuming part
  • Experimented with and ran multiplayer VR rooms built with A-Frame using Glitch
    • Major benefit in not having to set up an actual web server
  • Explored and compared different mapping systems for VR using A-Frame
    • KaiRo’s VRMap and A-Frame City Builder
    • Also, some small experimentation with edge detection in Python to build maps in Blender again

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FINAL RESULTS (MEDIA)

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FINAL RESULTS (MEDIA)

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WIKI CONTRIBUTIONS

  • Comparing WebVR Collaboration Projects:
    • Added a comparison page going over some of the different technologies that I compared for building collaboration into WebVR, particularly with A-Frame
  • WebVR Collaboration Tutorial with A-Frame:
    • Added a tutorial page on setting up collaborative spaces in WebVR using A-Frame and networked-aframe
  • Comparing WebVR Mapping Projects (edited):
    • Updated information on Aframe City builder that might be useful for future students
  • Blender Tutorial: Python:
    • Tutorial for using Python in Blender

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DELIVERABLES

  • GitHub library
    • Epidemic data, processed
    • Blender file
    • Python file
    • Output glb file
  • A-Frame projects on Glitch
  • Wiki Contributions

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TAKEAWAYS AND PARTICULAR CHALLENGES

  • Difficulty of exploring/using old data
    • Spent a lot of time researching datasets that were broken/incomplete/no longer maintained
    • Had trouble finding the right way to transfer bar graph data from 1854 to something usable for modern heat maps
  • System-specific coding challenges
    • Have worked with Python a lot
    • Still had some trouble making Python work in Blender due to Blender’s particular processes
  • Probably should have reached out to other students more
    • Would have saved myself some time and trouble to talk to students who had used VR mapping tools previously

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