Overview Effect
A university VR prototype combining an orbital environment with geographic data.
- Year
- 2023
- Discipline
- Unity development, 3D assets and interface prototyping
- Tools
- Unity, Blender, C#, Oculus Quest 2
- Status
- Prototype
- Year
- 2023
- Discipline
- Unity development, 3D assets and interface prototyping
- Tools
- Unity, Blender, C#, Oculus Quest 2
- Status
- Prototype
The concept
A university assignment for Data & Code Literacy. Built a VR experience exploring the "Overview Effect" - the cognitive shift astronauts report when viewing Earth from space for the first time. Goal: combine real-world geospatial data with immersive VR to create moments of awe and perspective shift. Users would navigate Earth's orbit, interact with live data layers (flight paths, weather stations, AIS maritime tracking), and experience the planet as a unified system rather than abstract information.
Prototype and limitations
Achieved a functional VR environment with interactive UI elements and first-person navigation in Oculus Quest 2. Successfully implemented coordinate system mapping for latitude/longitude data plotting. Created custom 3D assets in Blender optimised for VR performance constraints. The project was hilariously malfunctional and motion-sickness inducing - turns out coding smooth VR movement and comfortable UI placement is substantially harder than the YouTube tutorials suggested. ChatGPT helped debug C# scripts when Unity's error messages were incomprehensible, which was frequently.
Development process
Willingness to tackle ambitious technical projects despite limited experience. Managed scope across multiple complex systems (3D modelling, game engine integration, VR optimisation, data parsing). Produced functional prototype within academic timeline despite significant technical roadblocks. Self-taught Unity and C# through online resources and AI-assisted debugging.
Examiner feedback
"Visually engaging project... good descriptive detail and links to the literature... A good submission overall." - Andrew Stapleton, UTS
Deliverables
5-minute walkthrough video, 1000-word critical reflection, Git repository with source code/documentation, Unity project files, custom 3D assets