Barco Canada projects British Columbia in 3D
The first satellite-generated map of British Columbia makes its debut
Victoria, B.C. Canada - The Royal BC Museum recently launched a never-before-seen perspective of this province. The new BC Map is part of the new Living Land, Living Sea gallery, the province's first permanent display on climate and climate change. This is the world's first three-dimensional map of British Columbia generated solely from satellite images.
"The technology uses the power of Barco’s new SLM R12+ 3 Chip DLP projector and a PC generated source to tell the story which will excite British Columbians about their province," said Pauline Rafferty, CEO of the Friends of the Royal British Columbia Museum. "It is compelling to parents and preschool children alike."
Uniting exceptional detail of SXGA+ (1400X1050) resolution along with the imposing size, the BC Map brings British Columbia to life. Not only does the 5-by-6.5-metre (16-by-21 ft.) terrain graphically illustrate the province’s physical majesty, a dramatic cinematic overlay animates BC’s ever-changing natural and cultural landscape.
Custom-designed for the Museum over the past two years by 4D Models Inc. in Victoria, the high-density polymer map merges an exquisitely accurate physical terrain with a versatile computer-generated overlay. It graphically demonstrates changes from the past to the present, and potentially even predictions for the future – positioning the BC Map as a powerful research tool.
The cinematic overlay that brings the map to life originates from a ceiling-mounted video projector. With a light output of 11,500 lumens the intense brightness eliminates any visual interference from daylight or ambient light. “This is a great achievement for all, where the expertise of Barco in partnership with Matrix Professional Video Systems, the local systems integrator and the staff at the BC Royal Museum all working in concert to conceptualize, design and launch this exhibit, making this project the first ever exhibit of this kind in Canada” said Mitch Stein, National Sales Manager with Barco Canada.
Such a precisely detailed map demands absolute accuracy in video registration. Exactly aligning the cinematic overlay with each three-dimensional peak and meandering waterway is pretty demanding. Even the course of the great Fraser River is only about 3 millimetres (1/8 inch) wide in spots.
For further information on this new exhibit call 1-888-447-7977 or visit: http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
About Barco
Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, provides visualization and display solutions for professional markets. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco is active worldwide and has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco is quoted on Euronext Brussels and is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company.
