IMSG’s VizLab awarded an Innovation Champion Award

14 Apr IMSG’s VizLab awarded an Innovation Champion Award

The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council has awarded NOAA’s Urban Heat Island of Washington DC Virtual Reality (VR) Experience an Innovation Champion Award. IMSG’s Environmental Visualization Laboratory (VizLab) has been instrumental in leading a highly collaborative venture between the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS), NOAA’s Global Systems Laboratory, and Science on a Sphere (SOS) to develop and support this VR experience, which allows users to fly around Washington DC using a headset. The city is populated with detailed 3D buildings that are laid over urban heat island afternoon temperature readings. This innovation demonstrates how these urban heat island map data by NOAA, can be used in a VR experience in combination with other publicly available data, such as the Washington DC 3D buildings, and satellite images, to visualize the urban heat island effect in a VR environment. The VR experience is just one of the multiple products and services available from the VizLab, in collaboration with NOAA’s Climate Program Office, innovates, deploys, and maintains. For more information on the award, visit https://www.actiac.org/act-iac-innovation-awards.