Ecodome, a British company, has designed what it claims is the world's first computer screen in the shape of a globe. It will be used to create a model of what the Earth looks like from outer space. It will form one of the main attractions at a £240 million environmental theme park to be built next year on a 350-acre site near Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
The 12.5-metre globe - one millionth the size of the Earth - will revolve within a 90-metre ecosphere. 350 projectors within the globe will throw computer images on to the surface of the globe as it rotates. Layers of different images can be projected so that information from other databases can be superimposed on the globe's surface. These include details about the weather, geology, ozone layer and rising sea levels taken from the Meteorological Office database and the British Antarctic Survey. Other information that can be illustrated on the globe includes: the effect of magnetic fields on the Earth's surface and solar wind; details about the atmosphere and the tides; volcanic activity, vegetation types, the migration of animals, birds and people; population densities and pollution.
As people walk around the globe on the spiral walkway, windows will appear giving the latest information about current events in countries in the news. It will also be possible to recreate political and geological maps of the world of past times.
Rupert Carr, managing director, Ecodome Ltd, 50 Sullivan Road, London SW6 3DX.
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