Digital three-dimensional (3D) cartography environments provide new ways of landscape visualization and topographic interpretation: digital terrain modeling (DTM) is added to the traditional cartographic technique, where relief interpretation skill is needed to interpret 3D topographic information from 2D representations. The emergence of augmented reality (AR) technology for DTM representation offers a new way to develop map-reading skills. It is in the representation of the landforms (hills, dunes, depths, valleys, mountains, shapes, slopes, and elevations) where the AR allows a new way to interact with the landscape representation. Once AR technology is combined with tablet computers, the manipulation of DTM can be done by finger gestures. This paper analyzes the potential of AR as an innovative teaching tool to improve relief interpretation skill based on the results of a workshop with 73 engineering students from La Laguna University, Spain. Participants performed exercises with 2D traditional techniques of relief representation and with AR. To compare the effect with and without AR, another group of 22 students conducted the workshop with only 2D relief representations. The gain was significantly better with the AR group; students who did not use AR had also a significantly better result, but their scores were still lower.

Landscape interpretation is needed for navigating and determining an orientation: with traditional cartography, interpreting 3D topographic information from 2D landform representations to get self-location requires spatial orientation skill. Augmented reality technology allows a new way to interact with 3D landscape representation and thereby facilitate the orientation of oneself in respect to the environment to determine goal location. This paper analyses if AR spatial landform improves the learner’s spatial orientation skill measured with the perspective taking/spatial orientation test by paired sampled t-tests. A workshop was conducted with 123 university students (63 treatment group, 60 control group) in which students had to identify locations and routes based on the interpretation of the relief, represented by AR. Results of the workshop showed an improvement in spatial orientation skill of 20.14 degrees average gain in the treatment group. Students who were not subject to the workshop (control group) did not improve their spatial orientation skill. The possibility of using free AR three-dimensional applications and exploit the potential of tablets and smart phones, which are widespread today, makes it possible to design and implement strategies for the development of spatial skills in formal teaching in the scope of Geography in higher education.

Realistic 3D geovisualization is necessary to facilitate the perception of a landscape designer in relation to the environment, which is a determining factor in decision-making in landscape planning and management. In the field of landscape design teaching learning environments, game engines can offer an immersive 3D geovisualization mode through Virtual Reality technology, which, in addition, can be motivating for the student. Game engines allow designing the scenarios where videogames take place, but game engines can also be used for geovisualization tasks in landscape design teaching environments. In this article, we present the landscape workshop, using a Unity 3D game engine. Twenty-five architect students performed landscape design tasks and worked with an interactive 3D geovisualization low-immersive desktop screen environment. The perception of the 3D environment during geovisualization was analyzed through the Questionnaire on User eXperience in Immersive Virtual Environments, and the motivational factor with the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Results showed a high perception of the 3D environment during geovisualization in the nine subcategories (sense of presence, engagement, immersion, flow, usability, emotion, judgment, experience consequence, and technology adoption) analyzed. The game engine-based teaching approach carried out has been motivating for students, with values over 5 (in a 1–7 Likert scale) in the five subscales considered.

In the field of geographical and environmental education, maps and geo-referenced information are frequently used, in which the earth's surfaces are represented in a two-dimensional (2D) way. Students have difficulty interpreting the relief representation and switching between 2D and 3D scenarios. Digital terrain modelling is added to the traditional cartographic techniques to represent the landforms, and the AR technology provides a new 3D and mapping human–machine interaction. In the 2015–2016 course, an educational experiment using AR on a tablet with 63 students from La Laguna University was performed covering three steps: academic improvement, usability of this technology to interpret the relief, and if it is motivating for the students. This paper presents the results in usability and motivation. A usability study in terms of efficiency, efficacy and satisfaction is presented. To assess student motivation, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory motivational model with six dimensions is adopted. Results about AR on tablets in the interpretation of terrain relief show a great usability of this technology, which serves as a motivational tool for the 3D visualization.

Creative thinking is an essential part of learning for sustainability, as recent studies indicate. Creativity enables the engineer to find solutions for the design of a new product or for the improvement of one already designed, to make it more sustainable. However, currently, engineering education does not usually assess academic performance in terms of creativity, and although interest in creative processes in engineering is growing, its implementation in the classroom is still scarce. In the present study, a creativity workshop was conducted in order to find multiple solutions to the problem posed, in accordance with divergent thinking. The workshop was based on a 3D CAD modelling activity, and the students needed to give different 3D design solutions starting from a two-dimensional shape. The participants were 72 engineering students from the engineering graphics subject in the degree in agricultural engineering and rural areas. Nine different creative components were evaluated. That way, not only was a generic measure of creativity obtained, but it was also possible to know the evolution of the student after the workshop for each of the components of creativity separately. The results of the workshop confirmed that creativity could be enhanced, and therefore, the learning process for sustainability can be improved in engineering.