A virtual microscope is a software suite that allows users to access real, archived images via the internet and explore them on their computer as if using a real microscope. It is a useful tool for research, teaching, and learning, but limited by the size of the image library. It can be a simple interface or a complete interactive tool with full simulated capabilities of different types of real microscopes. The image database is the foundation for all virtual microscopes, and it allows many more students to use microscopic images without the need for physical tools.
A virtual microscope is a suite of software components and data that allows users to access real, archived images via the Internet and explore them on their computer as if using a real microscope. It is a useful research, teaching, and learning tool, but is limited by the size of the library of stored images and the difficulty of rendering three-dimensional images as seen through a real stereomicroscope. The virtual nature of the images allows users to manipulate and explore images using their computer in ways that a basic microscope is unable to do.
Depending on its intended use, a virtual microscope can be a simple intuitive interface with a small library of images used as an interactive exercise for children to teach them the fundamentals of microscopy, or it can be a complete interactive tool with full simulated capabilities of different types of real microscopes that draws on a very large database of images. The one feature shared by all types of virtual microscopes is that they are all computer simulations of the characteristics and capabilities of a real microscope. Some may be freely accessible to the public while others may only be accessible to those with authorized access in the case of sensitive searches or forensic evidence collected for law enforcement purposes.
An image database is the foundation for all virtual microscopes, and any such system is limited by the size of its image library. Real images taken with real cameras and microscopes are converted into very high resolution digital files and stored in a database that users of the virtual microscope system can access. The functions of one or more microscope types are simulated by software, allowing users to manipulate and study images in the same way they would if studying a specimen with a real microscope.
The development of virtual microscopes is a major advance in teaching as it allows many more students to use microscopic images without the need for physical tools, something many institutions could not otherwise accomplish without purchasing more expensive real tools . Instead of purchasing additional microscopes and providing facilities for their use, a university can allow students to simply download and install the virtual microscope software onto their personal computers. By providing image libraries online, it also allows many more students and researchers than they would normally have access to use the data.
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