Initial View of SL

When a new technology appears early uses typically reposition exiting materials to the new medium. This usually offers few benefits other than making information much more widely accessible than previously. A great example has been digitizing and posting of books online. I have found some historically important books on lunar science that I have never seen before. 

With virtual worlds - at least Second Life (SL), the one I am gaining experience with - the same repositioning is occurring. For example, Spaceport Alpha has amazing recreations of rockets but there is nothing to do with them except look. You can fly around them, seeing them from all sides, but basically they could be as informatively displayed on a website. 

I am interested in a higher level use of the affordances of SL. Can the ability to walk around something provide information about its position relative to other features that increases understanding? I am thinking along the lines of geologic stratigraphy. Can measures be made of (simulated) physical characteristics (magnetic fields, topography, spectral response) that permit analysis?  I want to find existing builds that do similar things and see how they do it and how well it works.