Ernesto Redondo Domínguez

From Raw Data to Meaningful Information: A Representational Approach to Cadastral Databases in Relation to Urban Planning

Digesting the data hose that cities are constantly producing is complex; data is usually structured with different criteria, which makes comparative analysis of multiple cities challenging. However, the publicly available data from the Spanish cadaster contains urban information in a documented format with common semantics for the whole territory, which makes these analyses possible. This paper uses the information about the 3D geometry of buildings, their use and their year of construction, stored in cadastral databases, to study the relation between the built environment (what the city is) and the urban plan (what the city wants to become), translating the concepts of the cadastral data into the semantics of the urban plan. Different representation techniques to better understand the city from the pedestrians’ point of view and to communicate this information more effectively are also discussed.

Augmented and geo-located information in architectural education framework

This work is focused to design an academic experience involving the implementation of augmented reality tool in architecture education practices to improve the motivation and final marks of the student. We worked under differ-ent platforms for mobile devices to create virtual information channels through a database associated to 3D virtual models and any other type of media content, which are geo-located in their real position. The basis of our proposal lies in the spatial skills improvement that students can achieve using their innate affinity to friendly digital media as Smartphones or tablets, to visualize educational exercises in real geo-located environments and allowing sharing and evaluating own-generated student’s proposals, on site. The proposed method aims to improve the access to multimedia content on mobile devices, allowing access adapted to all types of users and contents. The students divided into various groups, both control and experimental in function of the devices and practices to perform, have as goal display 3D architectural geo-referenced content, using Sketchup and ArMedia for iOS and a custom platform for Android environment.In this paper we propose a novel interaction technique that creates the illusion of tactile exploration of museum artefacts which are otherwise impossible to touch. The technique meets the contextual necessity, often requested by museum curators, to background technology and to direct the focus of the museum visitor’s experience to the artefact itself. Our approach relies on the combination of haptic interaction and the adaptation of a well-known illusion that enables museum visitors to make sense of the actual physical non-touchable artefact in an embodied way, using their sensory and motor skills. We call this technique Haptic Augmented Reality.

Acoustic Filter. New Virtual Reality Audio Format Pretends to Enhance Immersive Experience

The implementation of sound in a virtual environment enhances immersive experience, and some audio formats have been developed for virtual reality. These formats are very powerful but they have also some limitations. Here we build upon this previous work by examining the properties of these formats. The aim of this study is to present the possibility of a new audio format based on the characteristics of the soundscape. Following the principles of audio correla‐ tion, an acoustic filter with the properties of the space is defined. The filter contains the acoustic information of the space and is able to be used whether in virtual reality and in acoustic analysis applications. This indicates that there is a possi‐ bility of obtaining a new audio format that contains the properties of the place.

El papel del dibujo y materias básicas frente nuevas herramientas para manipular el espacio. Casos de estudio de investigación educativa en docencia arquitectónica

El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar los resultados parciales de una investigacion educativa sobre el desarrollo y la mejora de las capacidades espaciales y graficas para representar operativamente el espacio arquitectonico, asi como el rendimiento academico de los estudiantes de arquitectura a lo largo de toda su formacion, usando herramientas graficas mas nuevas o las mas tradicionales. Para ello se han llevado a cabo estudios de caso usando estudiado grupos de control de alumnos de la Escola Tecnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona –ETSAB-, que usan tecnicas y metodologias tradicionales y otros que usan las experimentales y aquellos que en algun momento del proceso docente incorporan practicas que implican el uso de nuevas metodologias con ayuda de las tecnicas informatica. Las escasas referencias bibliograficas en ensayos equiparables a este en el ambito de la arquitectura, que ofrezcan orientaciones dirigidas a los docentes e investigadores del area de la Expresion Grafica Arquitectonica, avalan la pertinencia de nuestra aportacion. La falta de capacitacion y afinidad –tanto como el desconocimiento- del dibujo tradicional a mano alzada por parte de los estudiantes que acceden a los estudios de arquitectura en Espana no puede ser compensada totalmente a lo largo estos, Por otra parte, seria absurdo no partir de su evidentemente solida cultura visual que facilita la integracion adecuada de las TIC al proceso formativo y lo requiere, aun cuando solo fuera como estrategia de motivacion. Si bien deberia exigirse una mayor capacitacion previa en dibujo tradicional para el acceso a la carrera, tambien se deberia asumir una y una integracion natural adecuada de todas las tecnografias en los diversos cursos, incluidas las materias proyectuales para adecuar las practicas graficas, optimizar los tiempos y el rendimiento academico.

One picture or a thousand words? Influence of question length and illustration support on the success and skip rates on online tests

The growing popularity of automatically graded online tests, either as an evaluation or self-assessment tool in online or blended education, demands a review of how these questions are designed and delivered to their intended audience. This paper analyzes the results of over 20,000 preuniversity mock online quizzes designed to train the students for the Spanish university admission test (known as “Pruebas de Acceso a la Universidad” or “Selectividad”) in the technical drawing subject, corresponding to the June and September intakes of 2009 and 2015. The influence of two key aspects on the questions success and skip rates is assessed: (a) the presence or absence of illustration support and (b) the length ofthe question as a proxy ofreading comprehension difficulty. The results support that the presence of an accompanying illustration in the questions result in fewer skipped questions and mode successful answers, while the length of the question has the opposite effect. The performance difference in the 6-year span is also discussed, showing a slight decline over time in the pass rates while the skip rates remain stable. When comparing both two intakes, corresponding to different academic profiles of students that passed the June exam and those who did not, the success ratio is unsurprisingly lower for the students in the second intake. These findings should help improving the design of online quizzes, including more visual content and/or rephrasing the questions to be more concise, to fit the requirements of students educated in a more visual environment of multimedia technologies.