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Science On a Sphere:
LTS as Community Partner
 LTS has been working with the
Nurture Nature Center (NNC) to
install and configure a Science On a Sphere at its new
location in Easton, PA. Science On a Sphere (SOS) is a room
sized, global display system that uses computers and video
projectors to display planetary data onto a six-foot
diameter sphere. SOS was developed by the
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to extend and enhance
its educational goal to increase the public’s understanding
of environmental systems and conditions.
NNC is a science center and museum that is dedicated to
addressing the fundamental conflict between economic
development and environmental conservation. The center will
include a variety of exhibits, programs, and other
educational activities related to environmental concerns.
One of its primary objectives will be the Flood Project,
which is devoted to educating the public about flooding. The
SOS is the centerpiece of NNC’s Flood Project initiative.
In an effort to continue its services to local
constituencies and promote the use of visualization in
education, LTS has produced images that are on display on
NNC’s SOS. The images pinpoint the location of large flood
events that have occurred across the globe from 2000 through
2009. The data that was used to produce the flood event
image was secured from Dr. Robert Brakenridge at
Dartmouth
Flood Observatory.
The flood event data, stored in a Microsoft Excel workbook
file, include latitude and longitude, start and end dates,
fatalities, number of displaced people, and other
information for each event. The Excel data was imported into
ArcGIS. ArcGIS, a desktop geographic information system
software application, was used to convert the Excel workbook
data into a format that can be used to display the
information for each flood event on SOS.
LTS has provided NNC with the initial set of flood event
images. We will continue to produce SOS images that will
enable NNC to visually demonstrate the impact of flooding on
human activity in urban, suburban, and rural settings.
Bill Betterman
wab3@lehigh.edu
Article posted December,
2011
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