{"id":2673,"date":"2023-02-21T11:11:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T16:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/?p=2673"},"modified":"2023-03-03T12:18:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T17:18:21","slug":"vr-map-tracks-silent-killer-of-extreme-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/21\/vr-map-tracks-silent-killer-of-extreme-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"VR map tracks \u2018silent killer\u2019 of extreme heat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A 3-D map of Washington, D.C., overlaid with temperature data illustrates urban heat islands and shows neighborhoods that are most at risk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GORODENKOFF\/GETTY IMAGES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In a bid to help local leaders and city planners better understand where heat islands exist, a federal agency has developed a virtual reality app that shows users temperature data of 3-D renderings of buildings, parking lots and other landmarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used mapping company Esri\u2019s ArcGIS mapping software to produce a 3-D model of Washington, D.C. The VR app gives users a bird\u2019s eye view of the city\u2019s hottest and coolest neighborhoods where they can see first-hand how factors like asphalt, concrete and even the lack of trees contribute to urban heat islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simulation is available via the Oculus Quest VR headset developed by a division of Meta Platforms\u2014the company formerly known as Facebook\u2014and was unveiled at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rafael de Ameller, the leader of NOAA\u2019s Environmental Visualization Lab, said in a demonstration last week during Esri\u2019s FederalGIS conference in D.C. that using VR is a \u201cmuch more interactive way\u201d of learning about urban heat islands and can help make the heat data collected on the ground \u201cmore understandable and relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The map also includes a VR tour of several neighborhoods<\/a> in Washington and provides context on the environmental factors that impact temperature in those areas. The tour features discussions of the heat values in the hottest, the coolest, the richest and the poorest neighborhoods, as well as for a community center that partnered with NOAA to act as a cooling station<\/a> for residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a city\u2019s recorded temperature is taken at one location\u2014usually an airport or other major landmark\u2014the actual temperature can be up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer if there are fewer structures or trees to absorb heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOAA already runs community-led heat mapping<\/a> programs across the United States, and it launched the Heat.gov website<\/a> last year that showed what a spokesperson in an email described as the \u201cundeniable interconnections between extreme heat, health outcomes and equity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of heat on residents\u2019 health deserves more attention, de Ameller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people die of heat in the hospital, those deaths are often attributed to \u201canother condition like a heart attack, or a stroke,\u201d de Ameller said. \u201cBut in reality, if you look at the deaths and the excess deaths every time there’s a heat wave, there’s a lot more people at the hospital but rarely, if ever, [do] they categorize it as heat being the cause,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s like a silent killer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOAA also has data for heat in city parks\u2014for Washington, D.C., that includes the National Mall and other federal and municipal parkland\u2014but de Ameller said the agency removed that from its map to focus on where people live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other cities can use the data collected by NOAA\u2019s sensors for their own VR maps, overlaying it on Census and planning data to show heat around buildings and other structures. That data is now \u201cdemocratized\u201d so anyone can use it, Ameller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source:<\/em> https:\/\/gcn.com\/emerging-tech\/2023\/02\/vr-map-tracks-silent-killer-extreme-heat\/383066\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 3-D map of Washington, D.C., overlaid with temperature data illustrates urban heat islands and shows neighborhoods that are most at risk. In a bid to help local leaders and city planners better understand where heat islands exist, a federal agency has developed a virtual…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,19,27,28],"class_list":["post-2673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-heat-map","tag-news","tag-noaa","tag-vr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2673"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2698,"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions\/2698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imsg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}