Do you have a question about the 2019 Geothermal Design Challenge™? Send your question to Geothermalchallenge@inl.gov. Questions and answers will be posted below.
Question: In the online description FORGE says that participants should use a choice of software packages to create “visualizations”, but then there is the statement that the visualizations should “Not be a direct output from a model or software package”. How do participants create visualizations using software without the output coming from the model or software package? Do you have any examples of past “visualizations” you can provide to clarify what is expected?
Answer: Excellent question! The statement means we don’t just want a bar chart or line graph but rather we would like a dashboard or portfolio of visualizations to tell a story. Some of the best examples can be found at https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery. Specifically, notice how Boeing uses multiple visualizations to tell a story about their global market (https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/boeing-current-market-outlook?gallery=featured).
Question: Can we use a mentor? Are High School teachers or scientists at local companies okay? Do they need to register with FORGE?
Answer: Yes. Having a team mentor is encouraged. Mentors do not need to register.
Question: Are we limited to only the “student” data sets provided in the links provided by FORGE, or can we use other data sets at the FORGE website, or elsewhere?
Answer: You are more than welcome to use other data, but it must be publicly available and you must cite any outside data used at the time of submission. Please remember that the challenge focuses on siting a new well at the FORGE site in Milford, UT. However, please send us the data link (Geothermalchallenge@inl.gov) you plan to use as soon as possible. We would like to vet it accuracy.
Question: Are we allowed or encouraged to find published articles re the FORGE site?
Answer: Yes, you are encouraged to find articles about FORGE.
Question: Where can I find a key for the geologic map of the FORGE site and the descriptions of the different colored rock types?
Answer: This link has the full geologic map, with a legend: https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1034
Question: Are the Unity Game Engine or Three.js JavaScript library available to use when creating our visualization?
Answer: These two frameworks are open-source but we haven’t developed any special visualization libraries in either for this competition. You are free to use any software to build your visualizations, just be sure to follow the guidelines. https://utahforge.com/studentcomp/
As a follow-up to this response, these two frameworks are open-source but we haven’t developed any special visualization libraries in either for this competition.
Question: Are we limited to using the data provided?
Answer: You are more than welcome to use other data, but it must be publicly available and you must cite any outside data used at the time of submission. Please remember that the challenge focuses on siting a new well at the FORGE site in Milford, UT.
Question: In regards to the Geothermal Design Challenge 2019-Data Visualization, can students from universities outside the USA submit for this competition?
Answer: Students who are U.S. citizens and who are attending accredited U.S. universities at the time of the competition are welcome to participate in the challenge.