DigGeog » 3D visualization

The value of brownfield sites: Hams Hall control room

Noel Jenkins — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:16:46 +0000

Developing brownfield sites is generally held to be a “good” thing (at least GCSE students are programmed to think so), however at times it’s worth considering that buildings such as power stations represent a substantial part of our industrial heritage. Hams Hall was a series of three coal-fired power stations at Lea Marston in Warwickshire, constructed between 1928 and 1968. Demolition of the last of the stations took place under cover of darkness in 1993

photo Wikipedia transferred from Geograph. Copyright Tim Marshall

The only building that survives is the control room of Hams Hall substation. The exterior is vaguely reminiscent of a mosque, though guarded with razor wire and liberal coatings of anti-climb paint. Indeed on my first visit, late on a stormy November night, the place was less than welcoming, and I failed to get inside.

Thanks to information from some helpful locals, I was able to return for a closer look. I knew what to expect; a circular control room with an extraordinary glass “flower” roof.

I planned to make a 360 degree image to show the room properly. The floor is covered in glass and it’s extremely dark inside, meaning that the exposures had to be lit with a torch. Here’s the finished panorama on 360 Cities:

Hams Hall substation control room in England

I’ve published the image as a full screen, high quality panorama on a personal page as well, since 360 Cities is getting a little cluttered . Click the image below:

Decrepit old buildings can hide all kinds of fascinating secrets. I don’t believe this building is protected in any way, although it is very well sealed up. Maybe it should be listed? Either way, it’s an important part of the local built environment, and a pretty special place. Perhaps we should get students to think more critically about the value of certain brownfield sites? The substation would make a really great local studies classroom, or some other kind of publicly-accessible building, where the unique roof and control panels could be protected from further damage.

AR Sights – new version

Noel Jenkins — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:07:17 +0000

I’ve been having another look at AR Sights – the augmented reality application that superimposes 3D models into a real-world view. It’s now available in a Mac version, and there is a greater choice ofÂ models. A web cam is required; this one looks good for other experiments such as time lapse as well. Once AR Sights is installed, simply browse the library of 3D buildings from a special Google Earth layer. It works very well.

Here’s the demo I made a little while ago.

The AR models include a number of religious buildings that make a great resource for RE lessons. In geography, students could design a suitable setting for a relocated iconic structure like the Petonas Towers.

Virtual Earth Street Side Technology Preview

Noel Jenkins — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:23:13 +0000

I stumbled across a preview of an interesting interface for Live Search Maps (or should that be Bing Maps?) today called Virtual Earth Street Side. The screen is split in two, with an eye level “Street View” image occupying the top half, and the map below, onto which is imposed a racing car icon. The car is moved via the keypad, and is able to track the street (at least some of the time) rather than driving over the buildings. Once the street view images are loaded into the browser, the keyboard gives a smooth and realistic driving experience; in my view somewhat better than Google’s Monster Milk Truck.

Virtual Earth Street Side

At the moment San Francisco and Seattle have been treated to this feature. I think it’s pretty slick, and I’d use it as part of my San Francisco decison making exercise – students can drive past their selected location.

Bella Gaia

Noel Jenkins — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:10:20 +0000

Information Aesthetics mentions an audio-visual work called Bella Gaia, directed by Kenji Williams that animates satellite imagery and spatial data. The production makes use of NASA’s World Wind virtual globe and might be useful as an introduction to a lesson on remote sensing.

Changes in dairy farming – new 360 image

Noel Jenkins — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:37:32 +0000

I was stunned by the robotic technology in use at the neighbouring farm. The cows decide when to be milked! Great for a GCSE case study on agricultural changes:

Robot milking parlour at Orway Farm, Devon in England

City-centre regeneration: a 360 image of Princesshay, Exeter.

Noel Jenkins — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:46:02 +0000

My latest image on 360 cities.net – taken to exemplify a modern, mixed-use redevelopment in a CBD.

Princesshay, Exeter in England

360 panoramas on Juicy Geography

Noel Jenkins — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:24:35 +0000

My recent 360 degree panoramic images with some degree of classroom potential have been added to a new page on Juicy Geography. Eventually they’ll be sorted out into categories and suggested teaching ideas added.
It has been incredibly expensive to buy the necessary equipment to make these images. I wonder if the donation button will get any response? It is easy to remove the embed option – which I will if they start appearing on other web sites!