Re-envisioning Field Surveying as an Immersive Gamification Experience

Recent strides in immersive technologies, coupled with advancements in game development, are reshaping engineering education, and revolutionizing the design and delivery of both in-class and lab activities. Traditional experiential practices in field surveying and mapping, which have historically relied on handson learning alongside theory concepts, have been supplemented by innovative pedagogical approaches, catalyzed by the disruptions caused by COVID-19. There has been a growing imperative to create virtual and immersive resources and shift towards virtual-based lab designs. In response to this evolving landscape, we present a novel approach that provides students with high-quality field training through an immersive virtual experience. We introduce an interactive web application for topographic surveying, embedded within a gamification framework, utilizing digital twins to recreate the field space. Our research offers compelling evidence that this approach effectively supports practical training, as demonstrated by real-world use cases conducted in the lab setting. Additionally, we gauge the framework’s usability using the System Usability Scale (SUS), affirming its effectiveness as a tool in virtualizing field practice.