By Colleen O’Hanlon
Seequent’s groundbreaking and free web application Visible Geology has been used by 90,000 earth science students, educators, and enthusiasts from 117 countries during its first year since launch.
Developed in collaboration with CerebralFix, a leading game development studio known for its work with Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks, Visible Geology was designed to revolutionise earth science education.
Seequent saw the opportunity to completely rebuild Visible Geology, a well-loved earth science education tool, in response to a critical shortage of earth scientists. Universities around the globe have reported a notable decline in enrolments for earth science programmes even as the need for earth scientists to help challenges like climate change and energy transition increases.
In Australia, for example, geoscience enrolments fell by 40 per cent between 2013 and 2020. The United Kingdom experienced a 43% decrease in geology student numbers since 2014. According to the American Geosciences Institute, the US expects a shortage of 130,000 geoscientists by 2030. Seequent’s goal is to combat this crisis by using innovative educational tools to inspire the future generation of earth scientists.
Visible Geology offers an immersive, intuitive gaming experience that transforms the way students learn key geological concepts. The application is free and allows users to explore 3D models of earth processes, moving beyond traditional 2D and paper-based teaching methods. Visible Geology is designed to empower students to explore and experiment in ways that traditional methods cannot match, helping to foster a deeper understanding of geology.
Visible Geology has been used by nearly 90,000 people from around the world since being launched a year ago.
Source: Seequent
Chief Customer Officer Angela Harvey said Seequent’s goal was for Visible Geology to become an indispensable teaching tool in every university offering earth science education.
‘We’re thrilled by the adoption of Visible Geology after only 12 months, but we have a deep commitment to doing our bit in addressing the critical shortage of earth scientists globally and have set ourselves even bigger goals for the future,’ Harvey said.
‘We feel we have a responsibility to support the education of the next generation of earth scientists and see a tremendous opportunity to do so. The feedback from our Visible Geology community is that the tool is easy to use and that it helps them more easily understand a complex subject, which is exciting.’ Harvey said.
155
Number of times a single user has logged in since launch
53
Number of languages spoken by Visible Geology users
14,756
The highest number of new users in a single month
Users of Visible Geology have said the free app helps deepen their understanding of a complex subject.
Source: Seequent
Seequent showcased Visible Geology at AGU24 in Washington D.C., the world’s largest gathering of earth scientists in December 2024. Dr Kate Pedley, a Geology Lecturer at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, has incorporated Visible Geology into her courses.
‘Visualising in 3D is one of the biggest challenges for geology students,’ Pedley said at AGU24. ‘Some of us cannot visualise in a way that a lot of us will instantly see a picture in our heads. The digital realm can help support that and give them something to see or visualise.’
‘What Visible Geology has done for us is allow us to use models at a simpler level than the more complicated ones that we might use in industry or research level. So it allows us to take simple models and simple scenarios and allows the students to then visualise those and help scaffold and support their learnings as they get to grips with those fundamentals.’