Joshua Tree Encounter

Leveraging VR and photogrammetry in innovative ways for the future of visitor centers

Project

Joshua Tree National Park: Oasis of Mara

Scope

2019–2020

Role

Design Research, Prototype, Visualization

My Contributions

Mockups, imagery, visual design, prototypes

BACKGROUND

Since 1950, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of Oasis of Mara – Joshua Tree National Park. With the help of volunteers and partners, they safeguard these historical places and share their stories with more than 318 million visitors every year. National Parks have always been a source of knowledge. However, with the changing times, in order to stay relevant, there is a pressing need for interpretive exhibits to engage their visitors in new and visually engaging ways.

CHALLENGE

How might we help reinvent interpretive brand-centered experiences for the new 3D world—This exploratory initiative leveraged XR and spatial computing in innovative ways to enhance visual storytelling by integrating novel tools and techniques to create data-driven brand storytelling frameworks.

SOLUTION

Pushing the limits of emerging technologies in service of stories brands want to tell and people want to hear.

Reflections

• The Intersect framework is generalizable to work with fauna and landscape materials natural to the terrain of the mojave desert.

• Results suggest that our approach can generate fauna and landscape that conform to the structure of the mojave desert and fulfill visitor expectations.

• Future work will focus on mesh directly and weighted fracture simulations to account for class imbalance.