The new addition now serves visitors.

The globe is stationed in the “mammoth room,” the one where the largest museum exhibit of the University is displayed. The globe itself is a large multimedia sphere that can visualize maps, climatic processes, lithosphere movement, and much more. Chronological changes can also be shown.

The digital globe was transported from its production location, the Geophysical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Similar tech has already become popular in other locations in the world. The Geophysical Center created proprietary software for the device to make it more conducive to research objectives.

“The project helps visualize geo-information data in real time. Our main interest is in developing our database,” says Deputy Director of the Geophysical Center Alyona Rybkina. “We pay special attention to popularizing science among students of various ages. We are aiming to create a multimedia complex with the most cutting edge technology. Lately, there have been quite a few materials on Earth sciences that are not exactly correct and do not reflect real scientific facts, so we strictly abide by the latest scientific standards in this area.”

Director of the Geological Museum, Chair of the Department of Paleontology and Stratigraphy Vladimir Silantyev notes, “This exhibit is now central not only to this particular room but to the whole museum. It can visualize current and past processes alike, which can help forecast future developments. Importantly, it’s open source, so it can be improved. I think our Institute’s GIS Club can get to it, which will be great news for the creators of this software.”

This is the third multimedia globe in Russia, after the Geophysical Center and Novosibirsk State University. KFU and the Geophysical Center have long been cooperating in research, so a decision was made to supply our university with this excellent piece of educational technology.

Source text: Leisan Zinnatullina

Translation: Yury Nurmeev