Historical Reconstructions

Digital models – such as the Forum in Rome during various phases of development in antiquity, Port Royal, Jamaica’s 17th century “wickedest city on earth,” and the 12th-century Spanish medieval church of Santiago de Compostela complete with period-appropriate sound and surrounding urban context – have been built and are under constant development as new knowledge and educational components are added and information technology tools evolve. New models are continually being proposed and created by scholars working within the ETC. To ensure the highest quality, all models are carefully vetted by scientific committees of scholars, and modeling is done by architects and historians.

To date, the virtual reality historical models form the basis of creative and scholarly experimentation in many disciplinary and professional fields such as the visual and sound arts, architecture, humanities, archaeology and other social sciences, the performance arts, and information and library sciences. The use of experiential technologies to examine cultural, economic, lifestyle and other aspects of human development through spatial reconstruction is the key to integrating research into education as students learn through the experience of these simulations.

With these existing and planned virtual reality models, the ETC offers UCLA faculty and students in diverse fields the opportunity to utilize powerful information technology tools usually reserved for the natural sciences, to signifi cantly enhance their research and educational activities and to facilitate the creation of new knowledge.

Geo-Temporal Exploration

Web Applications