ecoSPLAT

ecoSPLAT is a browser-based platform that transforms 360-degree panoramic photographs from ecological field stations into explorable three-dimensional environments using Apple's SHARP monocular view synthesis and Gaussian splatting — requiring only a consumer camera and no specialized hardware. Each panorama is sliced into twenty-five perspective views, independently reconstructed as navigable 3D "terrariums," and published to a viewer where users can move continuously from a global station map down to the structural detail of individual canopy, understory, and ground layers, with iNaturalist biodiversity observations overlaid for ecological context. Built on the archive of the NSF-funded Virtual Field Project spanning thirty-three field stations and over four hundred panoramas, ecoSPLAT is the proof-of-concept for SCOPE (Science Community Observatory for Participatory Ecology) — a framework for distributed, citizen-science-scale monitoring of ecological structure across sites, seasons, and years.