VISUALIZATION

Researchers who would benefit from visualizing their data have a new support network to turn to for advice and guidance. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has announced the funding of a Visualization Support Network which pools the expertise of key visualization centers in UK universities. Some of the centers demonstrated their latest visualization techniques at the 4th UK e-Science All Hands meeting in Nottingham this week. At the East Midlands e-Science Centre stand, visitors will be able to see a hand-held PDA steering and visualising a very large, Grid-based molecular dynamics simulation. Researchers at Loughborough University have developed the lightweight visualisation tool for the RealityGrid e-Science project, which uses Grid technologies to model and simulate very large or complex condensed matter structures, such as water moving through oil-saturated rock or DNA moving across a cell membrane. RealityGrid is an e-Science pilot project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Several different visualisation software packages have been custom written for RealityGrid simulations. The tool can provide an interface between any of them and any PDA or mobile phone, allowing researchers to control and visualise their experiments from anywhere. It can also support multiple, simultaneous users, enabling them to visualise and interact with the same data at the same time. "Lightweight visualisation enables affordable, pocket-sized communications devices to interact with high-end, e-Science visualisation on the move," says Professor Roy Kalawsky from Loughborough University. The Welsh e-Science Centre will be demonstrating the Resource Aware Visualisation Environment (RAVE) which has been developed at Cardiff University to provide collaborators working at different locations with a visualisation package that allows them to share and view complex sets of data. RAVE has been designed with groups of professionals in mind, for example a team of doctors, working at separate locations, who need to view and discuss patient MRI scans before formulating surgical or treatment plans. It allows local computers to call upon the resources of remote computers using Grid technology, so that all team members can easily view and interact with the same data at the same time. It covers the whole spectrum of display devices from PDAs to desktop workstations to immersive virtual reality environments powered by supercomputers. "As RAVE runs in the background on a local computer, it can be used to share a machine's resources without side effects such as windows appearing on the machine. Unused computer capacity can be shared on-demand without affecting the local user," says Dr Ian Grimstead from Cardiff University. JISC has allocated funding for the Visualization Support Network over three academic years (2005/06 to 2007/08) to centres based at Loughborough University and King's College London. The Loughborough centre, representing a consortium of Loughborough University, the University of Cardiff, the University of Leeds, the University of Manchester, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, will provide a focal point for sharing knowledge and best practice between application domains and provide training in advanced visualisation techniques. The center at King's College London will provide a 3D Visualisation in the Arts Network, with the same broad aims as the Loughborough centre, but focusing on the needs of researchers in arts and humanities. The centerss will work closely together to ensure maximum synergy and to avoid duplication of effort.