Forest Digital Twin: An Immersive Virtual Reality Tool for Teaching Forest and Landscape Management

Forests are complex and dynamic ecosystems, which makes traditional teaching methods insufficient for communicating the spatiotemporal processes occurring within them. Virtual reality (VR) offers an immersive and interactive way to visualize and comprehend this complexity. Virtual forest experiences can help students understand the impacts of management decisions and climate change on ecosystem services, rendering abstract concepts more concrete.

This project aims to develop a forest digital twin framework and VR pipeline for educational purposes in forest and landscape science. The VR tool will enable teachers to virtually demonstrate the effects of diverse management practices and climate change on forest dynamics and ecosystem services.

The project builds on an existing forest digital twin prototype developed through a collaborative project between ZHdK and ETH. This prototype will be further developed into a fully functional VR learning tool by creating dynamic and interactive 3D forest landscape scenes, blended with virtual information layers and assignments, and by incorporating intelligent tutoring and real-time feedback mechanisms.

Special emphasis will be placed on improving the user interface, personalization of the learning experience, and accessibility. This will be achieved through guided tours and data overlays that highlight key forest data. VR technology will be integrated into course assignments, and a thorough evaluation of both the learning experience and learning outcomes will be conducted.

•  To enhance the existing forest digital twin prototype and workflow for streamlining visualizations of various forest types, management practices, and process-based model simulations.
• To further develop the user interface and accessibility, incorporating on-demand virtual information and intelligent
  tutoring.
  – To perform a pilot implementation phase of the new prototype in the classroom.
  – To improve the VR tool based on users’ feedback.
  – To deploy a full-functioning VR learning tool that allows personalized immersive learning experiences.
  – To assess students’ learning experience and performance in a VR environment through a robust evaluation of the usefulness of Forest Digital Twin.

The Forest Digital Twin will advance education by creating an immersive VR learning platform that strengthens lecturers’ teaching capacity and deepens students’ learning. The VR tool will bring immersive and dynamic forest and landscape environments into the classroom without the need for field trips, which are often logistically and resource-intensive.

The platform will enable interactive teaching and data-driven simulations, fostering critical thinking about land-use systems and management while enriching curricula at D-USYS. By making abstract and complex changes in forest ecosystems visible and accessible, the VR environment will effectively bridge theory and practice.

The Forest Digital Twin will primarily target bachelor’s and master’s students specializing in Forest and Landscape Management. Thanks to its adaptable, data-driven pipeline and VR environments, the tool can be extended to disciplines beyond forest sciences, including landscape ecology and architecture. Beyond ETH, the platform could support evidence-based management by transforming complex data into compelling narratives for stakeholders and policymakers.

Link to the Research Project Beyond the Trees on the ZHdK Website:

https://www.zhdk.ch/en/researchproject/beyond-the-trees-606429