An exploratory approach for urban data visualization and spatial analysis with a game engine

Despite the growing popularity and widespread use of serious games, the development of effective serious games is difficult, requiring an appropriate balance between game design and instructional design. Although there are fundamental differences between games developed purely for entertainment compared to those developed for “serious” purposes, there are currently no standard development tools specifically intended for serious game design and development available that encourage developers to follow a set of best practices. Rather, developers of serious games often rely on existing game engines and frameworks that are specific to entertainment-based game development. Given the availability of a large number of game engines and frameworks, deciding on which one to use to develop a serious game may be difficult, yet the choice of engine or framework can play a significant role in the development process. In this paper we present the results of a literature review that examined the frameworks and game engines that are used to develop serious games. We provide a list of the most commonly used frameworks and game engines and summarize their features. Knowledge of the frameworks and game engines that are most popular and details regarding why they are popular may prove to be useful to serious games developers seeking such tools. The chapter ends with a brief discussion regarding a framework that is currently being developed specifically for the development of serious games. Through consultation with the potential users of the framework (serious games developers), the framework aims to strike a balance between ease of use and functionality, while providing the user with the necessary options and tools to ideally develop effective serious games.

Mangrove forests are highly productive and have large carbon sinks while also providing numerous goods and ecosystem services. However, effective management and conservation of the mangrove forests are often dependent on spatially explicit assessments of the resource. Given the remote and highly dispersed nature of mangroves, estimation of biomass and carbon in mangroves through routine field-based inventories represents a challenging task which is impractical for large-scale planning and assessment. Alternative approaches based on geospatial technologies are needed to support this estimation in large areas. However, spatial data processing and analysis approaches used in this estimation of mangrove biomass and carbon have not been adequately investigated. In this study, we present a spatially explicit analytical framework that integrate remotely sensed data and spatial analyses approaches to support the estimation of mangrove biomass and carbon stock and their spatial patterns in West Africa. Forest canopy height derived from SRTM and ICESat/GLAS data was used to estimate mangrove biomass and carbon in nine West African countries. We developed a geospatial software toolkit that implemented the proposed framework. The spatial analysis framework and software toolkit provide solid support for the estimation and relative comparisons of mangrove-related metrics. While the mean canopy height of mangroves in our study area is 10.2 m, the total biomass and carbon were estimated as 272.56 and 136.28 Tg. Nigeria has the highest total mangrove biomass and carbon in the nine countries, but Cameroon is the country with the largest mean biomass and carbon density. The resulting spatially explicit distributions of mangrove biomass and carbon hold great potential in guiding the strategic planning of large-scale field-based assessment of mangrove forests. This study demonstrates the utility of online geospatial data and spatial analysis as a feasible solution for estimating the distribution of mangrove biomass and carbon at larger or smaller scales.

Having been a promising visualization tool since 1950s, ironically, virtual reality is not widely used in the architectural design and evaluation process due to several constrains, such as the high cost of equipments and advanced programming skills required. This paper described the collaboration between design computing courses and architecture design studios that have been taught at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2004 and 2005. These courses explored several practical methods to integrate Low Cost Virtual Reality Aided Design (LC-VRAD) in the architectural design process. As a summary of the collaboration, this paper refers to three main aspects: (1) How to use game engine to design an affordable VR system in the ordinary studio environment. (2) How to integrate VR, into the design process, not only as a visualization tool, but also as a design instrument. (3) How to evaluate different methods of representing architectural models based on the efficiency of workflow, rendering quality and users' feedback. Support by the Game and Interactive Design Department at SCAD, students in the School of Building Arts implemented two Low Cost VRAD methods in various design phases, starting from site analysis, schematic design, design development to the final presentation. Two popular game engines, Epic Game's Unreal engine and Director MX's Shockwave engine, were introduced to students to visualize their project in real-time. We discussed computer-aided design theories including the application of VR, as well as digital computing and human computer interaction. At the end of each quarter, feedbacks from students and faculties were collected and analyzed. These methods were revised and improved consistently across 2004 and 2005 academic year.

论电子世界中的生态旅游业的发展途径：空间趋势分析带有地理标记的图片和谷歌搜索数据摘要研究目的本论文旨在探索生态旅游业在电子世界中是如何随着时间而显示出来的，文章样本为带有地理标记的图片和互联网搜索数据。本文使用生态旅游图片和谷歌趋势搜索数据来评估游客对生态旅游的感知，通过对关键要素的分类，审视生态旅游和可持续发展的关系，以及衡量生态旅游基地的受欢迎程度等方法。研究设计/方法/途径本论文作者从Flickr.com上搜集地理标记图片以及从谷歌趋势上下载谷歌搜索数据。样本分析通过内容、趋势、空间上的综合分析，来开发生态旅游类别和游客对生态旅游的感知。首先，我们研究了社交媒体上的生态旅游地理标记图片以理解游客对生态旅游的感知情况，以此搭建了关键生态旅游要素的类别体系，和衡量生态旅游基地的受欢迎程度。第二，我们通过使用互联网搜索数据，检测了生态旅游如何与可持续发展相连接，以及研究了搜索数据中的趋势。第三，我们使用了GIS软件来操作空间分析，对图片的空间-时间改变和游客对世界的观点做了可视化处理。研究结果本论文确立了三项生态旅游感知的基本主题以及13项生态旅游要素类别。生态旅游互联网随着时间演化，根据谷歌趋势上的定义，被大致地展现出来。本论文研究结果表示生态旅游地理位置和游客足迹与生态旅游谷歌搜索的热门区域不全是完全吻合的。研究原创性/价值本论文使用地理标记图片和互联网搜索数据将生态旅游发展趋势近十年的变化描画出来。全球生态旅游趋势的评估对全球可持续旅游发展和实际游客感知方面做出重要见解启示。生态旅游趋势的分析作为一种战略方法，对UN可持续发展目标的时间起到评估作用。本论文针对游客的真实感知和意见，游客如何选择和感知自然景观，这对于很多群体，比如旅游行业和政府，都有着重要意义。

The article highlights the problem of integrating gaming and digital technologies into the school physical education system in the context of the digital transformation of education. It substantiates the need to modernize physical education teaching methods in accordance with the requirements of the New Ukrainian School Concept and modern pedagogical strategies aimed at stimulating students' motivation, cognitive and motor activities. It is determined that the use of gaming technologies is an effective means of developing the personality of a schoolchild, which contributes to the formation of a positive emotional background for classes, the development of communicative and social skills, the improvement of motor skills, and an increase in interest in physical education classes. Digital technologies are considered an important tool for personalizing the educational process, monitoring physical activity, and creating an interactive learning environment. Based on an analysis of psychological, pedagogical, and methodological literature, the leading principles of integrating gaming and digital technologies have been identified: innovation, interactivity, individualization, motivational and emotional engagement, visuality, and safety. A methodological model for conducting an integrated physical education lesson has been developed, combining traditional physical exercises, game elements, fitness apps, mobile trackers, online platforms (Kahoot, Google Classroom, ClassDojo), and gamification elements (challenges, ratings, virtual rewards). The effectiveness of the proposed principles was tested in a pedagogical experiment conducted among 7th and 8th grade students. The results of the experiment confirmed a statistically significant increase in motivation, motor activity, and physical fitness indicators among students in the experimental group compared to the control group. The data obtained indicate the feasibility of systematically introducing integrative approaches into school physical education practice. It was concluded that the combination of gaming and digital technologies forms a new pedagogical paradigm of physical education, focused on the development of key competencies, the formation of positive motivation for motor activity, and the education of physically and digitally literate individuals.

Game developers have been using commercial game engines to create serious games. The development of serious game is a process that requires game and instructional design. Constructionist environments and games are becoming more popular in the last years because of the importance of Computational Thinking to develop problem solving skills. Despite this popularity, there is a lack of available game engines and frameworks to develop this kind of games. This paper proposes a game engine architecture to support the affordable development of constructionist games. The game engine specification describes components of game, instructional and constructionist elements as a low-level definition that facilitates direct implementation. A serious game built upon this specification and used by 96 students is also presented in this paper. This validation provided some future work ideas, as an editor tool, SDK and API.

Scholars have extensively studied video game labor practices (e.g., Bulut, E. (2015). Glamor above, precarity below: Immaterial labor in the video game industry. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 32(3), 193-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2015.1047880 , Bulut, E. (2020). White masculinity, creative desires, and production ideology in video game development. Games and Culture, 16, 1555412020939873; Banks, J. (2013). Co-creating videogames. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing; Kerr, A. (2010). The culture of gamework. In M. Deuze (Ed), Managing Media Work (pp. 225-236). London: Sage; O’Donnell (2009). The everyday lives of video game developers: Experimentally understanding underlying systems/structures. Transformative Works and Cultures, 2. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2009.0073 , O’Donnell (2014). Developer’s dilemma: The secret world of videogame creators. Cambridge, MA: MIT press; Johnson, R. S. (2013). Toward greater production diversity. Games and Culture, 8(136), 136-160. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412013481848 , Johnson, R. (2014). Hiding in plain sight: Reproducing masculine culture at a video game studio. Communication, Culture & Critique, 7, 578-594. https://doi.org/10.1111/cccr.12023 ); yet, few have exclusively examined the process of character design (e.g., Srauy, S. (2017). Professional norms and race in the North American video game industry. Games and Culture, 14, 478-497. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412017708936 ). Using a grounded theory analysis of 19 interviews with games designers and developers, this work complements existing research with insights on how gender and gendered interactions, technologies, audiences, market logics, and corporate culture integrate and influence character design practices. We found that technological affordances (e.g., game engines and related software; see Whitson, J. R. (2018). Voodoo software and boundary objects in game development: How developers collaborate and conflict with game engines and art tools. New Media & Society, 20, 2315-2332) converged with the masculine, heteronormative identities of game developers to shape normalized valued practices for character design, resulting in formulaic tropes that generally appealed to a masculine audience. Changes in status quo character design were attributed to diversity-conscious individuals, who operated within organizational practices privileging proven formulas over innovative designs.

Purpose – This study aims to analyze the non-performance financing determinant of Islamic Banking (IB) in Indonesia through spatial analysis. These determinants consist of macroeconomic and microeconomic variables Methodology – Samples in this research were selected using the purposive sampling technique with the criteria of Islamic banks registered in the Financial Services Authority (OJK) that released quarterly data reports and financial reports during 2015-2020. There are 7 Islamic banks that met the criteria. Findings – Results showed that the ROA, Inflation, GDP, and BI Rate simultaneously affected the NPF level, while FDR and CAR do not affect the NPF level of Islamic commercial banks. Meanwhile, partially FDR, BOPO, CAR, ROA, Inflation, GDP, and BI Rate affect the NPF level. In addition, the spatial analysis showed that based on the global distribution, there is a significant spatial effect through the geographical location between one bank and other. Originality – This research provides empirical data related to the determinants of non-performing financing, using the spatial analysis approach. Moreover, this research also uses the most updated data, Islamic and conventional banks during 2015-2020 Research limitations – Related to the samples of Islamic banks, this research only investigates those registered in OJK, not all Islamic banks in Indonesia.

Since spatial transcriptomics can locate and distinguish the gene expression of functional genes in special regions and tissue, it is important for us to investigate the brain development, the development mechanism of brain diseases, and the relationship between brain structure and function in Neuroscience (or Brain science). While previous studies have introduced the crucial spatial transcriptomic techniques and data analysis methods, there are few studies to comprehensively overview the key methods, data resources, and technological applications of spatial transcriptomics in Neuroscience. For these reasons, we first investigate several common spatial transcriptomic data analysis approaches and data resources. Second, we introduce the applications of the spatial transcriptomic data analysis approaches in Neuroscience. Third, we summarize the integrating spatial transcriptomics with other technologies in Neuroscience. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future research directions of spatial transcriptomics in Neuroscience.

Cities all around the world are observing increasing levels of urban freight activities owing to the growth of internet shopping combined to the traditional distribution to shops, creating additional problems in terms of congestions and environmental impacts. This study, developed within the European Project SUITS framework, aims at showing how Local Authorities can effectively observe freight flows from the demand side. This led to the design, implementation and testing of a spatial cluster analysis approach to understand which are the most important loading/unloading parking spots in an urban setting by processing the GPS traces of a fleet of logistic vehicles. Later field activities should focus on these important areas to maximize the efficiency of the survey. A survey of retailers and shops in such areas to observe delivering activities is then proposed. The whole process, namely the spatial analysis and the field survey, was then tested to the real case of an Italian city (Turin) to assess the potentiality of the methods. The methodology proposed can give useful insights to Local Authorities on a way of monitoring the freight distribution patterns at the more disaggregated individual loading/unloading area.

The rapid growth of new game technologies and the changes in the profile and demographics of gamers have fostered a new breed of players looking for new challenges and a stronger involvementin the playing experience. This articleinvestigatesissues of user-led game design in the new area of game-based learning for an adult audience,it examines game design theory and its applications to game-based learning, issues in relation to usability in game-based learning design, gender-inclusive game design and the relationship between learners/gamers, designers and the wider game community. It arguesin favour of user-centred design practice in this area and it presents work in progress for a game for higher education, The Secrets of Biblioland.

Urban data strongly favored by urban digitization and web 2.0 constitute the raw material whose sources often diverge. However, as far as we know, little or no work has been done to explore the sources and targeted applications for urban planning indicators modelling. We aim to guide neophytes who seek to integrate smart data-driven applications into urban planning processes with greater clarity and credibility. For this purpose, we used test mining to analyze 250 (out of more than 750) relevant papers in the Scopus database and applied ML to an urban planning problem. We found that the data comes broadly from two main categories of sources, namely sensors and statistical surveys (including social network data). Data sources are highly correlated with their structure and the potential planning issues addressed. We conclude our work by discussing the potentialities, emerging issues, and challenges that urban data sources should face to better catalyze intelligent planning.KeywordsUrban dataData sourceUrban planningSmart citiesMachine LearningUrban planning indicatorsUrban modelling

Big data and natural disasters: New approaches for spatial and temporal massive data analysis

BackgroundThe emergence of new technologies in the obstetrical field should lead to the development of learning applications, specifically for obstetrical emergencies. Many childbirth simulations have been recently developed. However, to date none of them have been integrated into a serious game.ObjectiveOur objective was to design a new type of immersive serious game, using virtual glasses to facilitate the learning of pregnancy and childbirth pathologies. We have elaborated a new game engine, placing the student in some maternity emergency situations and delivery room simulations.MethodsA gynecologist initially wrote a scenario based on a real clinical situation. He also designed, along with an educational engineer, a tree diagram, which served as a guide for dialogues and actions. A game engine, especially developed for this case, enabled us to connect actions to the graphic universe (fully 3D modeled and based on photographic references). We used the Oculus Rift in order to immerse the player in virtual reality. Each action in the game was linked to a certain number of score points, which could either be positive or negative.ResultsDifferent pathological pregnancy situations have been targeted and are as follows: care of spontaneous miscarriage, threat of preterm birth, forceps operative delivery for fetal abnormal heart rate, and reduction of a shoulder dystocia. The first phase immerses the learner into an action scene, as a doctor. The second phase ask the student to make a diagnosis. Once the diagnosis is made, different treatments are suggested.ConclusionsOur serious game offers a new perspective for obstetrical emergency management trainings and provides students with active learning by immersing them into an environment, which recreates all or part of the real obstetrical world of emergency. It is consistent with the latest recommendations, which clarify the importance of simulation in teaching and in ongoing professional development.

An increasing population as a result of urbanization brings with it the need for an urban regeneration process. This process is particularly crucial to ensure that elderly people with limited mobility are able to meet their own needs as well as participate in the social dynamics of the city. Depending on their mobility, the accessibility capability of elderly people is one of the key dynamics of the urban planning process, and accessibility is particularly important for elderly people with regard to covering their needs. The aim of this study was to examine the capability of elderly people, whose needs are typically neglected in the urban planning process, in accessing spatial services in Nigde, a city located in the Central Anatolian region of Turkey. The literature was reviewed to identify areas frequented by elderly users, as well as the level of accessibility of such areas. A survey was then conducted to determine the level of importance attached by the elderly to the accessibility of these spatial services. Based on the fi ndings of the survey, a spatial analysis was conducted for the city using the Geographical Information System (GIS), and accessibility impact areas were identifi ed. The inadequacies of urban areas in Nigde were identifi ed, and various recommendations were proposed in order to resolve them.