The visualisation and interpretation of information represent the biggest challenges in the era of big data in every scientific field. To address these challenges, the IDIA Visualisation Lab - hosted in the Astronomy Department at UCT - was officially launched in February 2018. As a result of continuous development since 2016, the lab offers novel facilities to explore huge astronomy and multi-disciplinary data sets.

The visualisation lab hosts and manages the following tools:

The COBRA

Immersive panoramic screen for single-user planetarium usage

The Cobra is a curved, panoramic visual display system. The 180 by 135 cm curved screen is illuminated by a 4K projector and a spherical mirror. The Cobra is designed to explore our imaging and catalogue data using existing software, as well as tools developed specifically for IDIA.

The Wide Area Large Interactive Explorer - WALIE

WALIE is a 4x4K screen array for a wide field-of-view image display

WALIE is a multi-screen video wall, consisting of a 2×2 array of high resolution 55″ screens giving the wall a total 8K UHD resolution. This is useful, for example, to compare large data sets and images. Researchers can use up to four screens on a dedicated high-end machine or bring their own device to plug into WALIE. The large screen area allows them to display images, as well as any analytical tools required for visual analytics, in high resolution.

Virtual Reality

Novel applications of emerging technologies.

Virtual Reality (VR) has been in existence for some time, but its use in the context of data exploration is still at the beginning. The IDIA Visualisation Lab is pioneering software development in VR for the exploration of large multi-dimensional data sets, and most importantly, interaction with the data through analytics. Immersive platforms are unique environments for visualising large, natively three-dimensional data sets. VR is entirely immersive and a wholly individual experience. 

The Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome

Data exploration using the full dome planetarium experience.

The Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome re-opened after a major digital upgrade in 2017. Besides offering public educational shows, the facility is used for research through a Research Consortium led by the IDIA Visualisation Lab and the Iziko Museum. The digital dome offers a hybrid environment through its shared immersive experience, particularly useful for collaboration and teaching on large data sets. The Cobra is also used to develop full dome data sets for use with the Iziko Planetarium and Digital Dome.

For more information about the lab and how to engage with its team and facilities please visit the IDIA Visualisation Lab website