The 3D Herbarium and 3DExhibits4Learning: A New Student Powered Learning Platform
In the Fall of 2022, the Cal Poly Humboldt library presented a project as a capstone proposal for the software engineering class. That project was the world’s first 3D digital herbarium, an innovative new way to study botany. This digital herbarium features photorealistic 3D models of plants in addition to the standard photos that you’d find in other digital herbaria, and those 3D models can be annotated for an immersive new way to learn. Being highly impressed by the software engineering group’s progress throughout the semester, the library dean decided to hire one of the group’s members to work on the herbarium full time beginning in 2023. Fast forward to the present, and the project has won the ALA RUSA best emerging technology award, was awarded an IMLS planning grant, and was featured at Access 2023 in Halifax, NS, Canada. But the 3D Digital Herbarium is just the beginning of a new platform for learning any discipline in this exciting new way, the 3DExhibits4Learning, which is scheduled for beta release in Spring 2025 with a 3D vertebrate museum. You can find the 3D Herbarium at 3dherbarium.org.