Virtual Herbaria

Virtual Herbaria questions the way we visualize and utilize large data sets, archives, and libraries. With today’s technologies, we have access to an infinite amount of online data, and years of archives and knowledge at our fingertips. Algorithms that can sort, search through, and identify hierarchy in that data are becoming extremely valuable because they are able to tell apart correct information from construct.

The project involved studying the Online Herbarium of the Southern Californian Desert, more specifically in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree National Park. Virtual Herbaria aims at reviving the California Desert Herbarium archive into an immersive experience through spatializing that data. After the boom of video-based apps like Tiktok, the interactions between user and product have become ever more important. Unity Game Engine was used to design Virtual Herbaria as an interactive spatial archive where actual and created content will flourish.

AI Visualizations of Cactus

VR Gameplay

AR Exploration

Virtual Herbaria

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