Dear Arkio Community,
I’m writing this post to share my experiences using Arkio in the context of university education. I’m very happy to do this as a way of thanking the Arkio team (especially Johan!) who has supported me in various ways over the years as I’ve been experimenting with Arkio and VR in urban planning. Thanks to them, I’ve been able to show my students some truly fascinating things!
I’m a professor at the Faculty of Human Geography and Planning at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. I see myself as a critical digital geographer, and I work with GIS and, in recent years, also with various XR technologies. Arkio, together with a couple of VR headsets (Meta Quest 2 and 3), allows me to run some very interesting classes in our urban planning, spatial management, and geography programmes.
The main way we use Arkio is in urban planning and 3D visualisation classes. Students work in small groups (4–7 people) and are given planning tasks, such as redeveloping a campus. They can either start from scratch or import their previous SketchUp creations. This process takes a couple of weeks, and afterwards they share the models between groups, commenting on and annotating each other’s proposals. This work is highly engaging and, in some cases, has resulted in serious proposals.
Here are a few technical notes and things I would have loved to know before I started:
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You need a projector or a large screen to share the view from the VR headset. I use Chromecast, which works excellently. You need to be able to show how Arkio works and what you can do with it. Students can also share their projects this way.
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Provide plenty of empty space. People will move around.
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A couple of desktop computers or laptops with Arkio installed are excellent, as some people may experience discomfort in VR. This way, they can still participate.
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You will need at least one moderator for every 7–8 people during the introduction, to help with technical issues. Alternatively, run the sessions in smaller groups.
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I found that having separate accounts for people to log into headsets is not worth it. I use one account for all the headsets, and it works excellently and hassle-free. One thing you need to do is switch off app sharing between accounts in the Meta settings.
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Batteries will run low with Quest 3 headsets, so provide a head strap with an attached power bank.
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In the case of Quest 3, you need a comfortable head strap that people can easily adjust to fit their heads. The original straps are no good.
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Provide a good explanation of how Arkio meetings work in relation to project storage. If you do not do this, people will assume it is cloud storage.
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Start with easy and fun tasks, and leave the serious ones for later. The first meeting in Arkio should be a fun experience, with lots of crazy stuff.
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Be flexible regarding group dynamics and VR setup. For example, someone may prefer to be in a different room.
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Emphasise the power of VR in urban planning. Walkthroughs, human scale, and perspective are eye-opening experiences for people who are used to a top-down view.
In addition to this, I also use Arkio for outreach and promotional activities. As a human geographer, I was always jealous of physical geographers because they were able to organise fun workshops for young people and prospective students, and Arkio has allowed me to do the same. On open university days, I always have a space where people can stop by and try VR urban planning, and I also travel to various high schools to run Arkio workshops. Giving young people the opportunity to take part in a participatory planning exercise, where they can transform their schools in VR, is always very engaging. For a travelling workshop like this, all you need, in addition to the VR headsets, is a mobile router, a Chromecast device, and lots of spare batteries for the controllers.
Feel free to contact me - I’m more than happy to share an learn new things.
It’s fantastic to see how you’re integrating Arkio into urban planning and geography education in such a hands-on way. The mix of VR, SketchUp imports, and collaborative student work is exactly the kind of creative application we love seeing.