Project 1 In-Class Activity Handout

There will be 19 countries in the VR data visualization (see below).

We will be looking at two pieces of data with the following definitions:

• Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita (cubic meters):

  • Renewable internal freshwater resources flows refer to internal renewable resources (internal river flows and groundwater from rainfall) in the country. Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita are calculated using the World Bank’s population estimates.

• People using safely managed drinking water services (% of population):

  • The percentage of people using drinking water from an improved source that is accessible on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination. Improved water sources include piped water, boreholes or tubewells, protected dug wells, protected springs, and packaged or delivered water.

Please fill out this entry form keeping these countries and definitions in mind.

Take some time to look at the World Bank’s 2D Data Visualization of the renewable internal freshwater resources and the population percentage using safely managed water resources.

I recommend opening the Exit Form at the bottom of the page already to answer all the questions related to the 2D visualization while going through the pages.

The freshwater resources page has three ways of looking at the data: table, chart, and map.

The population percentage page has three ways of looking at the data as well: line, bar, and map. There is also a table of all the countries and their most recent value.

Play around with all ways of looking at the data!

Once you’ve done the 2D visualization questions of the Exit Form below, you can move on to the VR data visualization questions!

The first step of the VR data visualization is to take a look at the scale object to get a sense of what the data is showing. This is the big red object in the middle of the world map! Take a screenshot of your view from the top of the scale object at any angle you want.

There are three actions you can do in the VR data visualizations:

• Teleport

  • Either left or right grip trigger works

  • There will be a purple x at the end of your raycast to show where you are teleporting to

  • Your controller will also be buzzing to inform you that you can teleport to wherever you are pointing

  • You can teleport to the top of countries and anywhere on the flat world map

    • You may end up inside countries sometimes because of the world map being a teleportation area; you can usually just try to teleport up to the top of the country if that’s what you were aiming for

• Button Click

  • Either left or right index trigger works

  • Buttons will turn blue when hovering over them and will be orange when you’re looking at the data of that year

  • The buttons will take you to another scene to show you the data for that corresponding year

• Continuous Turn

  • Either left or right joysticks

  • You can turn faster by using both at the same time

TO DOs:

• Screenshot from top of scale object

  • Try to include countries in the background or nearby to show size

• Screenshot of a country and it’s population percentage information

• Look for the countries with the tallest and shortest structures in 2014

• Look for the countries with the highest and lowest population percentages 2014

If you have done all this and have some time left for this part of the activity, take a look at optional fun activity below!

Once you have finished your VR data visualization, partner with the person across from you in the Groups table and discuss about your corresponding VR visualizations. Also, refer back to your copy of your Entry Form responses.

Some questions to consider:

• What are some things you think the 2D visualization showed better and vice versa?

• How did land area affect the way data was shown? Which do you think is a more truthful representation of the data?

• For the shortest and tallest of renewable internal freshwater resources, how do your guesses in the Entry form compare to what you actually saw? Ask the same about the population percentage.

• Were there any countries that surprised you in terms of their population percentage vs their freshwater resources?

• What are some you reasons you think the World Bank was not able to get data for some countries?

After your discussion, please fill out the rest of the exit form. 

Download the APK file for Group 1 if you haven’t already and screen record yourself scaling Luxembourg! You can can send me the screen recordings via Slack or post on the Activity Board. :D