In spite of the tremendous success in artificial intelligence technology and a high level of automation in geospatial data obtaining processes, there is still a need for topographical field data collection by professional surveyors. Understanding terrain topology and topography is a cognitive skill set that has to be demonstrated by geospatial Subject Matter Experts (SME) for the productive work in the topographic surveying field. For training of the mentioned above skillset, one has to be exposed to the theory and must also practice with surveying instruments in field conditions. The challenge of any surveying/geospatial engineering workforce training is to expose students to field conditions which might be limited due to equipment expenses and meteorological conditions that prevent good data collection. To meet this challenge, the Integrated Geospatial Technology research group is working on a geospatial virtual reality (VR) project which encompasses the following components: (a) immersive visualization of terrain; (b) virtual total station instrument; (c) virtual surveyor with reflector installed on the virtual rod. The application scenario of the technology we are working with has the following stages: (1) student is installing total station on the optimal location; (2) students move virtual surveyor on the sampling points they consider to be important (3) contours are generated and displayed in 3D being superimposed on 3D terrain; (4) accuracy of terrain modeling is observable and measurable by comparing the sampling model with initial one.

中文翻译：

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地形测量领域中用于网络学习的地理空间虚拟现实：迈向具有成本效益的移动解决方案

尽管在人工智能技术上取得了巨大的成功，并且在地理空间数据获取过程中实现了高度自动化，但是仍然需要由专业测量师来收集地形现场数据。理解地形拓扑和地形是一种认知技能，必须由地理空间主题专家（SME）演示才能用于地形测量领域中的生产性工作。为了培训上述技能，必须了解这一理论，并且还必须在野外条件下使用测量仪器进行实践。任何勘测/地球空间工程劳动力培训的挑战是使学生暴露于野外条件，这可能由于设备费用和气象条件而受到限制，从而妨碍了良好的数据收集。为了应对这一挑战，集成地理空间技术研究小组正在开展一个地理空间虚拟现实（VR）项目，该项目包括以下组件：（a）身临其境的地形可视化；（b）虚拟全站仪；（c）在虚拟杆上安装了反射器的虚拟测量师。我们正在使用的技术的应用场景包括以下阶段：（1）学生正在将全站仪安装在最佳位置；（2）学生在他们认为重要的采样点上移动虚拟测量员（3）生成轮廓并将其以3D方式显示并叠加在3D地形上；（4）通过将采样模型与初始模型进行比较，可以观察和测量地形建模的准确性。