An integration of GIS, virtual reality and the Internet for visualization, analysis and exploration of spatial data

This paper explores the way in which GIS, Virtual Reality (VR) and the Internet are closely integrated through the link of Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) for spatial data visualization, analysis and exploration. Integration takes advantage of each component, and enables the dynamic 3D content to be built, visualized, interacted with and deployed all on the Web. To accomplish this, a hybrid approach that merges the conventional client-side and server-side methods is proposed, which offers the best of both worlds in terms of flexibility and capability, as well as the rational use of computing resources. Based on this approach, a Web-based prototype toolkit is designed and implemented by using an affordable desktop GIS through its macro language together with Java, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and HTML programming. This toolkit comprises a 3D visualization tool, a 3D analysis tool, and a Java/VRML interface, which are respectively used for the creation of VRML models from 2D maps, surface analysis (e.g. profile creation and visibility analysis), and interaction (e.g. selecting and querying) with the output VRML worlds of 3D visualization and analysis. It is demonstrated that this toolkit provides an integrated environment, facilitating users to gain insights from the interaction with virtual environments that are built from existing GIS databases.