Reality goes Virtual on SOS Explorer™

Photo of a man wearing the SOSx headset.

Through the new headset, users can select SOSx datasets, move the globe in any direction, and toggle between different views with virtual fingers.

June 13, 2017

GSD’s Science On a Sphere® team released new software for SOS Explorer™ (SOSx) that uses Oculus Rift virtual reality technology to immerse viewers in 3D datasets that entertain as well as promote scientific literacy. With the Rift headset, users can explore the rings of Saturn, the Hubble telescope orbit, and view a 3D rendering of the Aurora Borealis as it might look from the International Space Station.

SOSx is a portable, flat-screen virtual globe based on NOAA’s 6-foot diameter Science On a Sphere® display system. Through the new headset, users can select SOSx datasets, move the globe in any direction, and toggle between different views with virtual fingers.

The SOSx software upgrade also improves the “Tour Builder” feature, a complimentary application that helps users customize tours with enhanced touch sensitivity and provides foreign language support to appeal to the international community.

Ilustration depicting convective parameterization.

A user immersed in the SOSx experience.

SOS Explorer™ Lite was originally released in September of 2015 as an introductory, free application for classrooms, and was followed by the release of the full-featured version of SOS Explorer in June 2016. This latest release makes SOS Explorer a complete exhibit that allows users to have maximum interaction with SOS datasets and 3D models. Museums that are early adopters of SOSx include: the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Oregon, the Nurture Nature Center in Pennsylvania, the EcoExploratorio in Puerto Rico, and the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida.

For more information contact: Susan Cobb 303-497-5093