21/8/2007

A way of transporting people out of this world and into a replica world exactly like it has been suggested by Wales scholars as a way to beat climate change.

The University of Wales is working with energy companies and local communities around the UK to help the community to play their part in the planning process for wind farms.

It is doing this by harnessing the technology of virtual worlds which are used to transport local councillors and residents into vitual worlds that are replicas of their
towns.

The use of virtual worlds for this is new and is seen as away in which local objections to proposed wind farms might be overcome and the Government can meet its carbon reduction targets.

At present in the UK around two-thirds of plans for windfarms are rejected. Concerns of local residents' have been main causes.

Now SEE3D, part of the University of Wales, has created a new technology which is being used in public consultations and as an inherent element in the planning approval process which allows local residents and councillors to tour proposed plans within a 3D world, enabling them to
control their movements and direction.

The virtual worlds can have a radius of 30 miles from the proposed wind farm. Built to scale, the worlds create a true representation of the local community. Once in the virtual worlds residents can actually look out of their homes to see if they can see the proposed wind farm; they
can walk out of their doors and along roads to see if, the wind farm was built, what impact it would have on their views.

SEE3D has created virtual worlds where local officials have been flown on an airplane over a proposed site and driven in a car along the main road enabling them to see what the wind farm would look like from different vantage points.

SEE3D is part of the University of Wales Aberystwyth and based in the University Visualisation Centre and delivers virtual reality services and software solutions to both the private and public sector.