This site has 3D perspectives of the Desert Southwest. The views are centered on the Colorado Plateau, but extend from the Uinta Mountains of Utah southward to Sonora, and from the Colorado Front Range west to Las Vegas. These 3D perspectives are two kinds of QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) movies: (1) QTVR object movies that let you spin the terrain and view it from any perspective, and (2) QTVR panoramas, which let you scroll and zoom around from a single perspective. I also included some still images (JPEG pictures) for those so inclined. The images were rendered in the program Bryce4, with colors showing variations in elevation.
Map View (looking straight down) (smaller file, 800 pixels wide, 200Kb file)
Map View (looking straight down) (bigger, more detailed file, 2000 pixels wide, 800Kb file)
Oblique view looking north (detailed file, 2000 pixels wide, 500KB file)
Southwest QTVR Object Movie -- Click and drag the mouse sideways to spin the terrain (WARNING -- File is 7.6Mb; don't try to download this on a slow connection).
Map view (800 pixels across; 160 Kb file)
Map view (bigger, more detailed, 2000 pixels wide, 720 Kb file)
Oblique view looking north (2000 pixels wide, 400Kb file)
All movies are copyright S. J. Reynolds, 2001. Educational uses are permitted, including copying the movies to your own computer or server, as long as the source is cited. Tell me if you use these and invent some cool exercise for a class. Email me at sreynolds at asu.edu.
