This is the first version of "National Updates" from Norway. The contributions to the IST-021/RTG-007 are meant to be:
a) a first coarse summary of institutions and types of visualization related research being done.
b) a suggested structure of report elements that might be suitable for a database.
The latter is inspired by Martin's draft of "Guidelines for National Updates" and the database-collection of various data and experiences made by the AGVis group of TTCP presented at their workshop in San Diego March 6-8 this year. I assume the design and use of a database benefit from making report "messages" containing some set of data, Martin suggests three types (Label/item, Description, and Reference). Here are also included "Category" and "Update" as a suggestion. The data elements here are:
Item: A title of the item containing some data for enabling an identification
Category: Grouping the type of report elements (here only textually described)
Description: Description as long or as short as the presenter deems necessary.
References: To make a reader able to get hold of additional information, for example web-address
Update: Who put in the data and when.
This first version is probably not representative for the visualization activities in Norway. More information will be collected for the next update, hopefully including some military applications as well.
Here are six report elements in a format that could be a start for a possible design of a database to keep such data. The reader is supposed to read more at the web-addresses or links found there. The links sometimes show other applications as well.
Item: Major research and education units in Norway involved in visualization
Category: Summary
Description:
This list hopefully includes most of such units having current and noticeably activities in visualization. The references are made to a general web page, many of which are written in Norwegian. Hopefully, the information found here might be to some help for further search and references. Most of the other reporting elements of this update are result of activities in some of these institutions. The institutions are grouped alphabetically under their location in Norway.
References: See above.
Update: Tore Smestad, May 2001.
Category: Software and application experience
Item: Transparent volume visualization by "Viz" used for flow phenomena in 3-D
Description:
Numeric simulations of flow phenomena in 3-D at FFI called for advanced 3-D visualization. Software were then developed for powerful Silicon Graphics machines. The software now called "Viz" is further developed at FFI and made more general. Viz is made for extremely fast voxel based volume rendering. Many groups working in the field of high performance computing use Viz for visualisation. Most significant is perhaps the use Viz by some of the ASCI (Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative) groups in USA.
References: See ftp://ftp.ffi.no/spub/stsk/viz/index.html and J.O.Langseth: «3D visualization of shock waves using volume rendering» to appear in Proc. Godunov Methods: Theory and Applications, Oxford, 1999.
Update: Tore Smestad, May 2001.
Item: Use of VR in petroleum production offshore in Norway
Category: Application experience
Description:
Research activities in the institute CMR in Bergen resulted in a firm applying VR-technology in different aspects of petroleum production.
References: See under "Success stories" and "Technical Aticles" in www.insidereality.com
Update: Tore Smestad, May 2001.
Item: HIST educates students using Statoil facilities for visualisation of petroleum production offshore in Norway
Category: Education and applications
Description:
A cooperation started in the autumn 1999 between HIST (education near the University level) and the oil company "Statoil" in Trondheim for visualization of work operations in offshore oil production. Approximately 20 students each year choose this possibility.
References: Click further from go.to/rtt and go.to/sll. See also www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cne95016.htm
Update: Tore Smestad, May 2001.
Item: The HAMMLAB and the Virtual Reality Centre in Halden Category: Laboratory facilities
Description:
Hammlab is a laboratory facility for experiments in control room situations motivated by international cooperation in nuclear power plant safety (the OECD Halden reactor project). Central topics have been situation awareness and development of software to assist humans.
References: See www.ife.no/english/tillegg/index.jsp?avdelingsId=1963&tilleggId=1228 for HAMMLAB and www.external.hrp.no for the OECD Halden reactor project with a link to "Halden Virtual Reality Centre"
Update: Tore Smestad, May 2001.
Category: An application in medicine
Item: Visualisation of ultrasound measurements
Description:
CMR in Bergen has worked with various applications for visualization in medicine. One is to view the shape of organs etc "viewed" by ultrasound measurements. (Some years ago I was presented a 3-D picture of the face of an unborn baby I did not find it now.).
References: Click on "Departments: Advanced computing" and further on "3-D ultrasound" in
www.cmr.no.
Update: Tore Smestad, May 2001.
3 FURTHER WORK
As stated in the introduction this first "National Update" should be seen as a start. It hopefully contains the more important institutions and activities related to visualization in Norway. The further work is to gather more report elements and describe them in some more detail. One category not presented here is military applications. There are different kinds of training systems using advanced visualization (in the technical sense). FFI is starting up activities for visualization in command and control. Hopefully I can get material to report about some of these applications in the next update.