In a Scottish village a small computer company is using the latest technology to bring alive Scotland's dramatic landscape without ever setting foot outside.
The sky is a wispy, settled shade of blue, the hillsides are sometimes shadowed, sometimes sunlit, a sprawl of greys and greens and browns. West across the trench of Loch Lomond, the Arrochar hills rise in a huddle of interesting, familiar shapes, the ridge of Ben Vane especially pleasing.
Northwards, the higher, bulkier Crianlarich Munros shimmer in haze, the sliced-off top of Stob Binnein prominent among them. Further back come the merged Mamlorn summits, with Ben Lawers and its satellites a succession of bumps on a faraway horizon.
The view is from Ben Lomond of course, a scene well known to Scotland's landscape-lovers; but it's not conjured from memory, nor from study of a picture or book. What I'm describing is a computer-generated virtual view - although one that lacks the crude angularity of arcade-game hillscapes. This is classy stuff and looks remarkably real, to the extent of re-awakening the desire to pull on boots, shoulder a rucksack and drive along to check out the real thing.
To travel the e-road to Rowardennan, simply plug in and log on to http://www.virtualscotland.org, where you will find this work-in-progress from Kevin Woolley's Balquhidder-based software company, Geomantics. Those already aware of Woolley's silicon-glenscapes might find it hard to believe that nearly a decade has passed since his earliest efforts hit our screens. Compared with new panoramas, his 1992 Landscape Explorer now looks rudimentary, crude even. But just as state-of-the-art golf games from that period have matured into beautifully crafted pieces of screen texturing, so has this.
The Lomond panoramas - there are currently two, looking north and west - are so lovely that it's easy to forget there is no pictorial basis for the work. "Nope, not one iota,- Woolley comments, and goes on to explain how the views are entirely map-based, constructed from Ordnance Survey data linked to a combination of three fancily named chunks of software: Leveller (from Daylon Graphics), Matt Fairclough's Terragen and Geomantics' home-grown GenesisII. Woolley is not just in the business of making pretty pictures, however: veracity is vital.
"The panoramas are accurate for earth curvature and contain data for a 30km radius,- he says. The intention is to gradually generate a series across Scotland, Ben Nevis is next followed by the Paps of Jura.
Many hillgoers will be familiar with Woolley's virtual fly-bys on the Scottish Mountaineering Club's Munros CD-ROM. These were most people's favourite bits of the package, a series of dipping, swerving high-speed whooshes through Argyll and Lochaber and the Cuillin. Imagine a combination of helicopter sightseeing and rollercoaster ride and you're just about there. Again there was the trademark texturing: whereas itmap hillsides often appear blank and blocky, Woolley's flybys were lovingly detailed, down to the credible 600-metre snowline. You could oggle into a snowless version at the touch of a finger - global warming on tap.
Woolley himself has followed an interesting career path. Aged 40, he trained as a molecular biologist but switched to computing in the mid-1980s, which he says "in retrospect was no bad thing as I'm a considerably better programmer than I was a biologist-. He initially worked in systems for large companies, but gradually developed his own software alongside "landscape visualisations- for clients such as the SMC.
Geomantics is that very modern creature, a virtual company. "I regularly work with a number of other people scattered around the country,- says Woolley. "A management consultant in Wales, a graphics designer on Islay, a programmer in Lincolnshire.- Asked where he sees his work going, he comes over all technical: "GenesisII is turning into a very GIS-orientated landscape program, aimed at integrating with products such as MapInfo and ArcView and providing an easy and quick way to visualise changes that impact on the landscape - forestry, roads, even funiculars-.
All jargon aside, what is beyond doubt is that Woolley and his colleagues are producing lovingly crafted products in a small, pleasing corner of the hill world where science, art and the steep slopes blend together.
Dave Hewitt
1/12/2000
Next time round Dave tackles Mike Cawthorne's Boardman Tasker nominated "Hell Of A Journey".
