Efficient Visualization of 3D Urban Environments in the Metaverse by Integrating GIS and Unreal Engine

Abstract

Geography and geographical space play an important role in many aspects of life and in many areas of online activity. In terms of loading and visualizing 3D urban environments and city-scale scenes, in real-time rendering, current approaches still require excessive use of CPU, GPU and video memory usage. In this research study we emphasize new technologies and game engines like Unreal Engine in order to efficiently visualize 3D urban environments in the metaverse. The metaverse is a virtual 3D world where individuals can create and control their own avatars, offering three-dimensional and immersive virtual environments. Geographic information systems (GIS) and the metaverse are both complex and rapidly evolving fields with many possible applications. The integration of GIS with the Unreal Engine, a popular game engine and a powerful real-time 3D creation tool, allows the creation and efficient visualization of photoreal virtual environments, while GIS data and layers could be used to create more realistic digital 3D environments in the metaverse, including terrain, buildings and other relevant factors allowing users to explore a three-dimensional virtual representation of city-scale scenes. The aim of this study is to present a methodology for an efficient and detailed visualization of 3D urban environments in the Metaverse by integrating Unreal Engine and GIS.3273322025 8th International Conference on Information and Computer Technologies (ICICT