Awards & Nominations
TEAM ZODIAC has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!
Mission to Planet Earth: A Digital History
ZODIAC - An Earth Odyssey
Summary
Earth is our home. We rely upon it for our existence in many different ways. Its resources feed us and provide the materials of our way of life. Even modest changes to Earth systems have had profound influences on human societies and the course of civilisation. Understanding these systems and how they interact with us is vital for our survival. The solutions to current Earth science related challenges will also come from human creativity. However, as our modern society and its needs have become increasingly complex, so have the solutions. We need citizens and businesses that are Earth science literate. We attempt to educate users about Earth Science using visualisation and 3D experiences.
How We Addressed This Challenge
Our android application starts with three options. The Past section attempts to portray the missions and the discoveries made by humanity since the day of the first satellite launch. The Present section deals with how Earth Science is helping mankind to understand the environmental changes and damages caused by our activities. This section is separated into Deforestation, Rainfall Changes, and Air Quality changes. The final section of our application is the Future section. Here, we have attempted to create two scenarios of what our planet may look like using 3D modelling tools to show users how our actions will decide how our future looks.
How We Developed This Project
Awareness of natural phenomena such as floods and earthquakes requires knowledge of Earth Science. Students who study Earth Science are better prepared to discuss issues and make informed, responsible decisions. If tomorrow's adults must make wise decisions about environmental issues, today's generation must be allowed to understand Earth Science at all levels as an integrated part of their education as well as an invaluable part of their learning experience. We started off by dividing the project into three key timelines and started brainstorming on the key resources and tools required to implement it. The base of this project is the android application and the interactive UI. Android Studio and Adobe XD have been used for the same. The Data visualisation has been achieved using python and tableau. Finally, for creating a 3D environment depicting the two future scenarios of earth, Blender was used as the primary modelling software. Many of these tools were new for us and it was a great learning experience on creating this cross platform project.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
For the Past section, we explored the Nasa History resources such as the videos and the information given on the website. For the Present section, we explored various datasets found in websites of space agencies and Kaggle to visualise them and create an interpretative information section. Finally for the future section, we used inspiration from various Nasa videos to create a 3D interpretation of two possible futures to educate the users.
Project Demo
https://www.canva.com/design/DAEJqG_fNEc/2lnbgB9qGsWx48KCFT1lbg/view?utm_content=DAEJqG_fNEc&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink
https://github.com/alan478/spaceApps-ZODIAC
Data & Resources
https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-history/videos
https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-history-overview
https://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/earthSciences.html#:~:text=%22We%20shall%20never%20cease%20from,place%20for%20the%20first%20time.%22