In the News
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Herald Journal Wednesday, Jun. 13, 2018
USU Students Use VR to Develop Powder Mountain Resort Concept
A Utah State University professor and his students used drones and a virtual reality program to develop a new resort concept for Powder Mountain, a popular skiing destination that straddles Cache and Weber counties. Over the last year, Benjamin George, assistant professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning, plus three graduate students used products from Intel and Puget Systems to create the conceptual resort in a way many design firms might not risk. ... George said Powder Mountain approached USU last year with the idea to design a new resort after it was purchased by Summit Mountain Holding Group. ... Sam Arthur, director of design for Powder Mountain, said the goal is to “create a forward-thinking alpine town that helps people to be able to recreate more than just in the winter.” ... “Virtual reality gives you this sense of being somewhere; it immerses you, and you have this really good spacial awareness of everything,” George said. ... According to LAEP student Drew Hill, the high-resolution 3D terrain from the drone was then put into a virtual reality program for site analysis and concept design so the LAEP students could design right on top of the model in 3D. Several high-powered computers from Puget Systems also helped. ... Now that the Powder Mountain project is behind them, George and his LAEP students are turning their attention to other projects, like a charter school in Providence, using the same methods as before.