Authors
Orr TJ; Macdonald BD; Iverson SR; Hammond WR
Source
APCOM 2015, Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry: proceedings of the 37th International Symposium, May 23-27, 2015, Fairbanks, Alaska. Bandopadhyay S, Chatterjee S, Ghosh T, Raj KV, eds. Englewood, CO: Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, 2015 Jun; :761-766
Abstract
Researchers at NIOSH's Office of Mine Safety and Health Research developed an easy-to-use mine visualization application using the Unity game engine to provide features not available in other software solutions. The tool allows the researchers to quickly build these visualizations and include development and stope geometry, geologic structures, and other spatially-related data. Additionally, the software displays current microseismic events extracted at runtime. Users can walk through the mine from a 1st person perspective and use translucency adjustments to see features beyond the floor, back, and ribs. The software also provides a 'fly' mode to inspect the exterior of the workings and datasets from any perspective. Because the Unity development environment supports multiplatform deployment, the authors were able to rapidly create variations of the visualization that take advantage of different display and interaction technologies. To date, the software has been deployed via standard desktop-executable, embedded web-browser, Oculus Rift VR headset, and fully immersive multi-screen virtual reality simulators. Future versions of the software will pull all data in a similar manner to allow the end user to rebuild the visualization on demand with the most up-to-date information across all data types. This paper will discuss the methods used to create this visualization tool and plans for future developments.
Keywords
Mining-industry; Underground-mining; Simulation-methods; Computer-software
Document Type
Conference/Symposia Proceedings
Editors
Bandopadhyay S; Chatterjee S; Ghosh T; Raj KV
Source Name
APCOM 2015, Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry: proceedings of the 37th International Symposium, May 23-27, 2015, Fairbanks, Alaska
