A Mighty River Goes Digital: Visulazing the Mississippi

Stretches of the Upper Mississippi River system that flooded the country's midsection in 1993 will soon be "contained" within the confines of digital museum displays. A partnership of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and several Midwestern science museums is in the process of creating interactive, virtual reality simulations of the mighty river and its watershed.

NCSA, the St. Louis Science Center, the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, and the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul all formed the Mississippi RiverWeb Museum Consortium to develop a series of interactive learning tools that use visually powerful simulations to demonstrate to adults, families, and school students how the Mississippi behaves as a complex, dynamic, integrated system.

The consortium museums--all located within the Upper Mississippi River Basin--are designing computer-based, interactive models and virtual reality displays that will be incorporated into exhibits at all three museums. The interactive displays that will be prototyped and installed over the next three years will enable visitors to explore the river's aquatic ecosystems, long-term changes in shape and direction of flow, and sediment buildup and its effects on the river's ecology.

A team of environmental scientists, visualization specialists, interaction design experts, display technologists, computer programmers, and education researchers at NCSA is developing the simulations and 3-D displays, that will probably use a scaled-down version of a virtual reality system similar to the Infinity Wall. The Infinity Wall provides a large, stereoscopic display surface. Alternative display technologies also will be considered. Consortium members anticipate that simulations will include surround sound and a hand-held device to control interactions in the VR environment.

For example, a visitor might be able to swoop above the river, then dive below its surface while investigating the natural and human forces that influence the river's behavior. In a closely linked application called the River Pilot Simulator, visitors will be able to navigate a virtual tow barge through dams and locks and under bridges. The museum-based simulations will make the fullest use of all available data about the Mississippi, so that they replicate the forces shaping the river as accurately as possible.

"The Mississippi River is such a huge story that it is beyond the scope and means of any one institution to interpret," said Patrick Hamilton, director of the Science Museum of Minnesota's environmental division and the project's lead investigator. "Telling its story requires telling many stories; the river must be interpreted in pieces before it can be understood as an interconnected whole."

Once the initial simulations and displays are developed, Web-accessible components will be integrated into a new Mississippi RiverWeb Museum Consortium Web site. The site will connect the exhibits at all three museums so they can be accessed as a unified learning resource from schools, libraries, and other educational settings. The consortium Web site will be linked to a related RiverWeb program Web site, where other Web-based learning modules on science, history, and culture are under development with separate funding as part of the RiverWeb program at NCSA.

The RiverWeb program is a comprehensive watershed science education and outreach initiative started by David Curtis with participation by Vernon Burton, and other colleagues at NCSA and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"What's special about the museum project is that it will provide rich, informal learning experiences that enable visitors to explore real-world questions about their environment," said Douglas Johnston, NCSA senior research scientist and a member of the Alliance's Environmental Hydrology Applications Technology team. "People will be able to look at 'what if' questions just as scientists do, albeit at a simpler level."

"We are excited about the collaborative, interdisciplinary nature of the museum project," Curtis added. "We now have the chance, as well as the challenge, of working with many talented, creative people here in Illinois, among the consortium partners, and around the country."