CC Sep-Oct 2023

CASEstudy
The sands of time
Bluesky 3D imagery brings global warming sea level rises to life
There is nowhere in the UK with a
more dramatic coastline than
Morecambe Bay with its vast
stretches of pristine sands, as treacherous
as they are beautiful. The tides sweep in
rapidly, cutting off cockle gatherers and
anyone else daring enough to hike out to
its windswept margins. It’s an apt place
then to measure our changing climate
patterns, and to then use that data to
illustrate the dramatic impact of global
warming on the UK’s coastline.
The younger generation are no doubt
acutely aware of the impact of global
warming, as they will bear the brunt of it
during their lifetimes. Attempting to stem
climate change may seem futile without
significant modifications to human
behaviour, but the first steps in any
mitigation of its effects lies in
understanding its causes and progress.
Hence the recent educational film
commissioned by Bluesky for
Morecambe students.
Sairo Studios, a creative agency
specialising in content for AR, VR and
Metaverse, was asked to produce a film
from high resolution aerial photography
and 3D mapping, put together by UK
aerial survey and mapping company
Bluesky International, to illustrate the
impact of global warming on rising sea
levels. Working with Lancaster and
Morecambe College, Sairo Studios
produced an educational film, 'Rising
Tides Climate Change in Morecambe
Bay', which demonstrates the effect of
predicted sea level rises from different
perspectives. The 360-degree video is
being shown in the College's immersive
Igloo theatre.
"We worked with Lancaster and
Morecambe College to create a localised
education piece exploring the impact of
climate change," commented James
Ascroft, co-founder and CEO of Sairo
Studios. "We utilised large-scale
photogrammetry models from Bluesky,
which we imported into Unreal Engine to
design and build weather simulations.
This was then exported as a 360 video the
students could immerse themselves in."
The Bluesky data package used by Sairo
to create the Rising Tides output included
high-resolution, 5cm map accurate aerial
photography covering the whole of
Morecambe, including the famous Stone
Jetty. Bluesky also supplied highly
detailed LiDAR (Light Detection and
Ranging captured by aircraft mounted
lasers) data to provide geographically
accurate 3D terrain data. The Bluesky
data was complemented with drone
imagery captured by Christians Survey
and Inspection Solutions and terrestrial
scans of smaller objects.
Ralph Coleman, Chief Commercial
Officer at Bluesky, said, "Geospatial
solutions are a valuable tool in the fight
against climate change. Our geospatial
datasets provide accurate visual
indicators of the situation, past and
present, helping us to see patterns for the
future. It helps inform decisions, shape
policy and, importantly, affect change.
Projects like this video from Sairo provide
credible predictions on the devastation
that we could be facing, and this will help
us make change now and work to reduce
the future impact of issues like flooding."
In order to create the most photorealistic
output, Sairo used Unreal Engine to
render the source data. Plugins were
required to simulate the desired output in
terms of water (rising tide levels and flood
water), green infrastructure, specifically
trees, and the 360-degree experience.
Sairo also applied the Scan Cloud
platform to increase its computational
power required to render the experience.
Rather than just a simulated digital
environment demonstrating water level
rises, the Sairo team also worked with
TAB Music to score the track, Joshua
Haworth who contributed Foley
(everyday) sound effects and Jon Carter
from the RSPB who narrated the film. The
360-degree video has already been
viewed by hundreds of students in the
North West region as well as local
stakeholders and businesses.
What are the next steps? Deeper
understanding of the issue involved and
their impact on the UK coastline will strike
more than a few chords among the
students who have been involved in the
immersive sessions and, armed with an
intimate knowledge of the region and its
dangerous undercurrents, they may
choose to become more involved in the
construction industry, and its attempts to
model a sustainable future for us all.
SAIRO STUDIOS
Sairo Studios is a leading creative agency
specialising in immersive technologies. It
focuses on creating immersive content in
innovative ways, helping to build bridges
between businesses and the new the
digital realities in which they exist within
Web 3.0, Sairo has worked with the
Department for Education and the Home
Office as well as Ribble Valley Borough
Council, Blackburn Museum and Art
Gallery and the Prince's Trust.
https://bluesky-world.com
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September/October 2023