Liquid Galaxy

It started off as a Google 20% project to run Google Earth coordinated across multiple systems, using COTS (Commodity Off the Shelf) hardware and it has grown from there!. This kind of cluster visualization system is very useful for research in many scientific fields, as they provide a high-resolution and accurate way of observing results. Some specific examples are the display of fire behaviour in geographical visualization or open source applications such as the MPlayer video player.

Liquid Galaxy lets you navigate around the globe with its 6-axis controller, allowing you instantly to zoom in, out, and turn around with completely fluid motion. You can also search and navigate to specific locations on autopilot using a touch-screen interface. Liquid Galaxy applications have been developed using a Master/Slave architecture. The view orientation of each slave instance is configured in reference to the view of the master segment. Navigation on the system is done on the master instance and the location on the master is broadcast to the slave instances via UDP packets. The slave instances, knowing their own locations in reference to the master, then change their views accordingly.

Distributed Computing Groups has established a relationship with the Ponent 2002 Company, Lleida City Hall and Lleida Technological Park to build the Liquid Galaxy Lab with the aim of improving and developing new applications for the Liquid Galaxy Infrastructure.

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