Vis Space and Dev Space

A continuing goal of Alaska NSF EPSCoR is to provide Alaskans with the tools to make informed decisions. To that end, EPSCoR took the lead in constructing Vis Space (external website), a visualization facility on the UAF campus that facilitates dialogue and decision-making by agencies, industry, communities and academia. Vis Space is also supported by the Development Space ("Dev Space"), which is used to experiment with virtual reality (VR) and other forms of visualization.

Vis Space consists of a bank of high-definition monitors providing upwards of 60 million pixels of resolution, connected directly to UAF high-performance computing and storage. It features a semicircle of seven 75-inch screens, as well as audio, a videoconference system, high-speed wi-fi, dedicated memory, and a 10-gig link to UAF, and is configurable to serve as either a conference room or as a theater. The versatile space opened in 2016 and has been used for hundreds of meetings, conferences, seminars, webinars, classes, trainings, and thesis defenses.

The space also spurred the creation of Dev Space, which contains a number of development tools, including a smaller version of Vis Space for developing content; two HTC Vive VR setups; a Samsung VR headset; a Dji drone and two 360 cameras; a Surface Hub 2S, Surface Studio and Surface Pro tablet; and a host of software for developing visualizations.

Vis Space and Dev Space are  located on the UAF campus in rooms 010 and 011 of the West Ridge Research Building, respectively. Both are available for use by UA affiliates and external organizations. To make reservations, or for more information, email ua-epscor@alaska.edu.

 

Vis Space/Dev Space Staff