The Virtual Great Barrier Reef project (1997~1999) was an ambitious collaboration between UNESCO World Heritage and some of the brightest minds in Virtual Reality. Dr. Tom DeFanti (EVL, Univ of Illinois, Chicago) engineered the main dome/CAVE technical environment. Dr. Carl Loeffler (Carnegie Mellon, Robotics Lab) worked on holistic environment interactions, and Dr. Sudanshu Semwall (Univ. Of Colorado) designed some amazing and innovative uses of single user tracking within a large chaotic multi-user environment.
The Virtual Great Barrier Reef installation is the first DOME immersive VR system to explore interactivity and complexity on a "many to many" basis. It combines CAVE and DOME technologies together to give visitors a unique experience through a combination of real-time images, artifical life and role-playing entertainment.
The full text can be found on Amazon as part of the book titled "Virtual Worlds: Synthetic Universes, Digital Life and Complexity" by Jean-Claude Heudin.
The Virtual Great Barrier Reef paper was originally submitted and presented at the First International Conference on Virtual Worlds, Paris France, July 1998. It was selected as a best paper award and was invited to be part of the hard back book published by the New England Complex Systems Institute, "Virtual Worlds: Synthetic Universes, Digital Life and Complexity."
The Virtual Great Barrier Reef installation hosted several very unique interaction devices in which the user could immerse themselves into the environment. One was a "Dive Belt' with a panel similar to an actual divers panel. Another was a "FishGlove" in which the user could become a particular fish avatar and propel the fish around the aquarium by using the FishGlove.
Very early prototype of the DOME/CAVE environment 1997.