What is THOR?

THOR (Terrain Height-mapping and Object Reconnaissance) is software that is being developed with the Unreal Engine, offering a new and unique way to map geospatial data. While there are many other GIS solutions available within the industry, no other solution offers the flexibility and scale that THOR is able to achieve. We are very passionate about the earth sciences, and the arts, and deeply care about the distribution of high-quality and attractive scientific products. Our goal is to build a team of scientists, engineers, and artists working on our code in an open-source fashion to create the gold standard for 3D scientific data dissemination, aid scientific work, and spur public engagement.

The Problem.

Traditional means of mapping within the Earth Science community have heavily relied on physical and antiquated methods of collecting, assimilating, disseminating, and viewing of map data and its derivatives. Existing GIS applications are infrequently capable of handling the big datasets required to accurately scout areas of interest, nor are they set up to allow for teams to effectively work on the datasets or simultaneously view deliverables within a communal or remote fashion. This presents problems for the scientists and support staff along the entire chain, from field data collectors, to research scientists, to project leads, to clients and decision makers. The normalization of remote work has further heightened these issues by stressing this chain of command and worsening previously stressed communication. The effective communication of data from office to field is especially important where accurate and timely collection of data is key within an ever-changing methodologic plan and course of action – one that often changes hourly or daily as new data is sent back from the field. On the flipside, effective communication of scientific data to the public is of utmost importance to spur public engagement and inform the next generation of scientists. While traditional GIS methods are very good at two and three-dimensional analysis, they greatly lack the ability to display the data in an engaging, attractive, or appealing 3D, 4D or VR fashion. Continued developments in computational power now allow for this previously unimaginable technique to become reality by leveraging the power of modern game engines and their compatibility with modern OS systems such as Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS among others.

The Solution.

THOR empowers its clients with the data necessary to manage operational risk and enable resilient and sustainable resource management through the lens of an integrative Earth Systems approach and Synthetic Environment simulations. THOR™ is being developed within the Unreal Engine and delivers 3D interactive mapping and exploration executables that are fully immersive within a virtual environment. THOR has the ability to employ the best available digital elevation models, imagery, point clouds, and additional datasets to create georeferenced, orthorectified, accurate, interactive, and transferable maps to be used in a high-bandwidth, low-bandwidth, or disconnected environment. THOR is a fully transferable file without the need for paid or proprietary software to use or interact. THOR has onscreen menus within a user-friendly UI for a smooth viewing and user experience, intuitive navigation, and real-time data extraction. Each product follows strict QA/QC protocols to assure a high degree of precision and accuracy. THOR is VR-capable and allows for a "Risk" like interactive feel for the environment in which it is deployed with in-map pawns that can be controlled from externally inputted locational data in real-time. THOR has adopted the ingestion of OGC CDB formats and derivatives as standard to set the stage for a common operational picture. The dissemination of THOR packages are self-contained within an EXE file that contain both the program and the data in one package. Files can be kept small with a relatively low 3.5GB overhead and can be run on a wide variety of devices, from handheld phones, to laptops, and desktops. THOR™ can be packaged to run on Android, HoloLens, HTML5, iOS, Linux, Lumin, tvOS, Windows (32-bit) & (64-bit). Existing familiarity with game engines has been leveraged in the creation of the UI and HUD to allow for intuitive navigation, both in-map, and within the UI. A variety of inputs can be used including, but not limited to, controllers, keyboards, and joysticks. A wide variety of displays may also be used. THOR™ has been optimized to take advantage of connected hardware and does not require an internet connection.

Users?

It is possible for our product to be used within various fields by a great number of clients within varying roles. Field scientists may use our product to better and more efficiently gain an understanding of the environment in which they are working; research scientists may use it to remotely map AOI’s and speed the ingestion of big data to allow for more rapid insight and intuition of their research; project leads may use it to better effectively communicate to clients, policy makers, or field scientists; policy makers may use it to allow for better insight into what they are being presented without the background to necessarily understand a stack a 2D maps or text (3D models are often very good at this); teachers may use it to remotely teach a lab or take a group of students on a remote field trip; and scientific artists may use it to create scientifically accurate and attractive 3D images to present to the public.