Simple example of a touch-sensitive model

Here's a photo of an interactive touchable topographical model. It was made by Rauda Scale Models in Seattle. The model is located at the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center in Potomac, Md. I went down on Sept. 4 to install a touch sensor device on the model. It only has three channels, and is very basic. They are evalutating the idea in case the Park Service wants to add these kind of displays at other sites.

From installation

The model is fiberglass. The fabricator cast it, then masked out the three zones, and sprayed the whole things with touchp-sensitive coating. then he removed the masking tape, and top coated the model with another layer of regular paint, and then a clear coat for protection. A wire runs from the touchSensor device to each zone from the underside of the casting. There's an application running on a PC inside the cabinet, and a speaker overhead. As parts of the model are touched, descriptive text is spoken.

There's a very simple set up GUI that lets the curators modify that text that the exhibit delivers. You can see that at the end of this video.