Tag: military

1999 – World's Largest Solid Terrain Model

In 2006, a mysterious 900x700m solid terrain model with military facilities was discovered by a German Google Earth user next to the Chinese town of Huangyangtan. It was quickly identified as a 1:500 replica of a disputed area in Tibet between China and India 2400km away, with perfectly matching orientation. Chinese authorities claimed the model was built 7-8 years earlier as a tank training facility. It is unclear whether the right image represents the same model. Sources: Newswatch (2011) The […]

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Physical model  Tags: cartographic, large-scale, military, pragmatic, terrain model, walkable


2004 – XenoVision Mark III: A Dynamic Solid Terrain Model

The XenoVision Mark III Dynamic Sand Table by the company Xenotran is a self-reconfigurable solid terrain model with military applications. There is little information on this device but it seems well ahead of its time. Michael Schmitz and coauthors explain how this high-resolution shape display with 7000 actuators was originally inspired by a scene from the X-Men movie (see our entry 2000 – A Shape Display Appears in a Movie). Sources: Directions Magazine (2004) Interview with Xenotran […]

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Enabling technology  Tags: cartographic, military, movie, solid terrain model