About the IQ-station
The IQ-station, which stands for Inexpensive Interactive Immersive Interface, is a virtual reality tool by which University of Idaho researchers can interact with complex datasets in three dimensions. The University of Idaho Library’s version uses a 73-inch, 3D television combined with two computers, monitors, and six tracking cameras to enable three dimensional effects.
A IQ-station user wears a pair of 3D glasses that allow him/her to perceive the screen projections, along with a controller -- which looks and functions much like a PlayStation 3 controller -- that is tracked by the system and allows a user to “drive” the experience, i.e. to manipulate and move different aspects of the visualization as well as to change his/her own perspective within the field.
The IQ-station renders specific types of datasets into three dimensional visualizations that a user can explore and analyze. Currently, the machine is equipped with a number of demonstration datasets, including LIDAR and MRI. To explore one’s own dataset, a user must import the data using a thumbdrive or other external hard drive device; the data must also be of a type that the software currently loaded on the system can render.