Scientific databases contain very large amounts of data accessed by investigators from many disciplines. In this paper, we propose a new interface to scientific databases: the SANDBOX: Scientists Accessing Necessary Data Based On eXperimentation. Much of the data that is stored in scientific databases is collected through experimentation. The SANDBOX is a virtual reality tool which allows an investigator to “recreate” the original experiment, collecting data from the scientific database in much the same way that the original data was collected. The investigator places virtual instruments into a virtual environment and collects data from the scientific database without ever typing in a query. These instruments give feedback, allowing the user to browse through available data of any type. We have implemented a prototype of the SANDBOX on a subset of NASA’s FIFE scientific database using the CAVE virtual reality theatre.

URL

Johnson, A., Fotouhi, F., Leigh, J., DeFanti, T., SANDBOX: An Interface to Scientific Data Based on Experimentation, Proceedings of the Fifth Eurographics Workshop on Visualisation in Scientific Computing, Rostock, Germany, May 30th, 1994. http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej/papers/euro/euro.html