Real-time visualization of geospatial features through integration of GID with a realistic 3D terrain dynamic visualization system

Luis Hernández, Alberto Varela, Javier Taibo, Antonio Seoane, Ruben López, and Alberto Jaspe-Villanueva

International Cartographic Conference, ICC'05

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@InProceedings{Hernandez:2005:RTV,
 title={Real-time visualization of geospatial features through integration of GID with a realistic 3D terrain dynamic visualization system},
 author={Luis Hern{\'a}ndez and Alberto Varela and Javier Taibo and Antonio Seoane and Rub{\'e}n L{\'o}pez and Alberto Jaspe-Villanueva},
 booktitle={Proc. ICC2005 XXII International Cartographic Conference},
 year={2005},
 }

Abstract

During the last years, several computational tools arose allowing the users to fly interactively over realistic simulations of the terrain using DTM, aerial pictures and satellite data. One of them, the Advanced Interactive Terrain Navigation System (SANTI) was developed by the authors. This system stood out because of its submetric resolution, real-time refresh rate over 60 fps and performance non-dependent of the size of the database to be displayed. After this experience, the authors opened a new line of research that integrates this dynamic visualization system with GIS. This article presents an open architecture that easily integrates any GIS with SANTI, taking advantage of the potentiality of both technologies. This way, it is possible to visualize geospatial features while flying over the realistic model of the land for a better understanding and analysis of the data. It is also possible to query the GIS database from the visualization interface, interactively selecting features within the 3D view of the terrain. We describe an application using this software architecture for regional planning and resource management.