Visualisation and Interpretation of Moraine Landscapes in North- East Germany – the Ideal View on Landscape

Visual representations of the earth’s surface can nowadays be produced on the basis of data with high resolution and accuracy. Especially 3D-visualisations can provide an excellent basis for “comprehensive cognition”. However, specific accentuations and generalisations are necessary to turn them into an adequate cognitive tool. Here we introduce a specific generalisation approach, presented by visualisations of two lowland landscape sections in the state of Brandenburg, Germany

3D Cadastre visualization and dissemination: Most recent progresses and future directions

The 3D Cadastre has been investigated from many viewpoints (including legal, organizational and technical). However, to date little research has focused specifically on visualizationrelated aspects despite the value-added of the third dimension. The paper first proposes an overview of progress made in the last five years in 3D cadastral visualization. The authors then summarize discussions at the 2014 3D Cadastre workshop regarding future research and development on the topic. This synthesis is complemented by a broad review of the most recent advances in 3D visualization beyond the 3D cadastral domain, with the goal of providing a number of important directions for further work, allowing researchers, developers and users to consolidate their respective activities, and encouraging collaboration

Customising virtual globe tours to enhance community awareness of local landscape benefits

Our wellbeing depends upon the services provided by ecosystems and their components. Despite recent advances in academic understanding of ecosystem services, and consideration in UK national environmental policy, a greater awareness is needed at community and individual levels. Dynamic features of virtual globe applications have considerable potential for helping convey the multi-dimensional context of ecosystem services and promoting general awareness. In a case study targeting residents in a small urban fringe river catchment in Norfolk, UK, representatives from local authorities and responsible agencies collaborated with scientists to produce extensive customisation of virtual globes in this context. By implementing a virtual flight over the catchment, different views and scales are traversed to set the context for landscape features and ecosystem services. Characteristic sites, e.g. supplying cultural services, are displayed and relationships with the natural environment are explained using linked on-screen text. Implementation is cost-effective and described for practitioners in ecosystem and landscape management, who may be inexperienced in landscape visualisation. Supplied as three pre-packaged virtual tours, products are made available for download and are publicised at a variety of engagement events, including teaching events with schoolchildren. The tours have attracted public interest and generated positive feedback about improving knowledge of local natural assets. Schoolchildren show confidence with the interface, but supplementary problem-based activities can improve learning opportunities. The capacity of virtual globes to support more participatory involvement of the public in local ecosystem management may increase in the future, but such visualisations can already help promote community awareness of local landscape benefits

Four Persistent Research Questions in Cartography

In recent decades, cartography has experienced a number of paradigm changes seen in refreshed research agendas and renewed education programs. Yet cartography remains the science, art and technology of making and using maps. This paper addresses four persistent research questions in cartography: 1 ) What is a map? 2) What are maps made for? 3) How are maps made? and 4) Who is making maps? Based on a retrospective analysis of cartographic advances since the introduction of the Internet in the early 1990s, the author gives an overview of evolution with regard to map types, map affordances, mapmaking workflows and the roles of mapmakers and map users. While some cartographic principles used since ancient times will continue to serve as anchor points for future development, ever-changing technological potentials and user requirements force us to maintain vitality with more and more innovative maps and map-based services. The author also appeals for a sustainable map creation ecosystem supported by cloud computing platforms

Four persistent research questions in cartography

U posljednjih nekoliko desetljeća kartografija je doživjela niz promjena paradigme koje su naznačene u osvježenom istraživanju i obnovljenim obrazovnim programima. Međutim, unatoč tim promjenama, kartografija ostaje znanost, vještina i tehnika izrađivanja i upotrebe karata. Ovaj se rad bavi četirima u kartografiji vječnim istraživačkim pitanjima: Što je karta? Čemu karte služe? Kako se karte izrađuju? Tko izrađuje karte? Na temelju retrospektivne analize napretka kartografije od uvođenja interneta početkom 1990. godine, autorica daje pregled razvoja u pogledu vrsta karata, svojstva karata, tijeka izrade karata i uloge izrađivača i korisnika karata. Iako neka kartografska načela još od davnih vremena i dalje služe kao sidrišta za budući razvoj, sve mijene tehnoloških mogućnosti i zahtjevi korisnika prisiljavaju nas da sačuvamo vitalnost predmetnog polja s inovativnijim kartama i uslugama temeljenim na karti. Štoviše, autorica poziva na održivi ekosustav stvaranja karata podržanih paradigmom računarstva u oblaku.In recent decades, cartography has experienced a number of paradigm changes seen in refreshed research agendas and renewed education programs. Yet cartography remains the science, art and technology of making and using maps. This paper addresses four persistent research questions in cartography: 1) What is a map? 2) What are maps made for? 3) How are maps made? and 4) Who is making maps? Based on a retrospective analysis of cartographic advances since the introduction of the Internet in the early 1990s, the author gives an overview of evolution with regard to map types, map affordances, mapmaking workflows and the roles of mapmakers and map users. While some cartographic principles used since ancient times will continue to serve as anchor points for future development, ever-changing technological potentials and user requirements force us to maintain vitality with more and more innovative maps and map-based services. The author also appeals for a sustainable map creation ecosystem supported by cloud computing platforms

Mobile three-dimensional city maps

Maps are visual representations of environments and the objects within, depicting their spatial relations. They are mainly used in navigation, where they act as external information sources, supporting observation and decision making processes. Map design, or the art-science of cartography, has led to simplification of the environment, where the naturally three-dimensional environment has been abstracted to a two-dimensional representation, populated with simple geometrical shapes and symbols. However, abstract representation requires a map reading ability. Modern technology has reached the level where maps can be expressed in digital form, having selectable, scalable, browsable and updatable content. Maps may no longer even be limited to two dimensions, nor to an abstract form. When a real world based virtual environment is created, a 3D map is born. Given a realistic representation, would the user no longer need to interpret the map, and be able to navigate in an inherently intuitive manner? To answer this question, one needs a mobile test platform. But can a 3D map, a resource hungry real virtual environment, exist on such resource limited devices? This dissertation approaches the technical challenges posed by mobile 3D maps in a constructive manner, identifying the problems, developing solutions and providing answers by creating a functional system. The case focuses on urban environments. First, optimization methods for rendering large, static 3D city models are researched and a solution provided by combining visibility culling, level-of-detail management and out-of-core rendering, suited for mobile 3D maps. Then, the potential of mobile networking is addressed, developing efficient and scalable methods for progressive content downloading and dynamic entity management. Finally, a 3D navigation interface is developed for mobile devices, and the research validated with measurements and field experiments. It is found that near realistic mobile 3D city maps can exist in current mobile phones, and the rendering rates are excellent in 3D hardware enabled devices. Such 3D maps can also be transferred and rendered on-the-fly sufficiently fast for navigation use over cellular networks. Real world entities such as pedestrians or public transportation can be tracked and presented in a scalable manner. Mobile 3D maps are useful for navigation, but their usability depends highly on interaction methods - the potentially intuitive representation does not imply, for example, faster navigation than with a professional 2D street map. In addition, the physical interface limits the usability

Usability of Online Virtual Geographic Environment for Urban Design

Collaborative Virtual Geographic Environment (CVGE), a technology derived from Virtual Reality (VR), is today becoming widely and freely available. This technology has potential for use in the field of 3D urban planning and design. An example is the online tool OpenSimulator. Rigorous assessment of the usability of such tools is needed to determine their impact on the field of urban design. A previous study consulted with a small group of urban design professionals and concluded from a user satisfaction and usability standpoint that online VR had potential value as a 3D collaboration, remote communication and marketing tool. However, visual quality and geographic accuracy of the technology are downsides that need to be overcome. This research takes the investigation a step further than the previous study to also examine the usability aspects of efficiency (how quickly tasks are completed) and effectiveness (how successfully tasks are completed), relating to CVGE used in the design process. The comparative study tests a CVGE (with increased graphic fidelity and geographic content to address the feedback of the previous study) of a subdivision design in a suburb of Dunedin, New Zealand, against 3D models built with a Geographic Information System (GIS – ArcGIS) and Computer Aided Design (CAD – BricsCAD) tools, two types of software that are already widely adopted and well established in urban design professional practice. This research collected and analysed the experiences and results from 16 urban design professionals and students who attempted to perform timed tasks correctly in each of the environments, before being asked questions about the technologies involved and the importance they perceive the technologies to have to their professional work. The results support and reinforce the feedback for VR from the previous study, with the graphical and geographic data issues being somewhat addressed and a number of new issues identified which also require further refinement of the technology to suit the application. Ease-of-use, and the associated fastest speed of completion of tasks, were significant outcomes to emerge from the comparison with GIS and CAD, and the results point to the likely level of integration of CVGE technology in an urban planning and design context in the future

A Data Model for Exploration of Temporal Virtual Reality Geographic Information Systems

Geographic information systems deal with the exploration, analysis, and presentation of geo-referenced data. Virtual reality is a type of human-computer interface that comes close to the way people perceive information in the real world. Thus, virtual reality environments become the natural paradigm for extending and enhancing the presentational and exploratory capability of GIs applications in both the spatial and temporal domains. The main motivation of this thesis is the lack of a framework that properly supports the exploration of geographic information in a multi-dimensional and multi-sensorial environment (i.e., temporal virtual reality geographic information systems). This thesis introduces a model for virtual exploration of animations. Virtual exploration of animations is a framework composed of abstract data types and a user interface that allow non-expert users to control, manipulate, analyze, and present objects\u27 behaviors in a virtual-reality environment. In the model for virtual exploration of animations, the manipulation of the dynamic environment is accomplished through a set of operations performed over abstractions that represent temporal characteristics of actions. An important feature of the model is that the temporal information is treated as first-class entities and not as a mere attribute of action\u27s representations. Therefore, entities of the temporal model have their own built-in functionality and are able to represent complex temporal structures. In an environment designed for the manipulation of the temporal characteristics of actions, the knowledge of relationships among objects\u27 behaviors plays a significant role in the model. This information comes from the knowledge base of the application domain and is represented in the model through constraints among entities of the temporal model. Such constraints vary from simply relating the end points of two intervals to a complex mechanism that takes into account all relations between sequences of intervals of cyclic behaviors. The fact that the exploration of the information takes place in a virtual reality environment imposes new requirements on the animation model. This thesis introduces a new classification of objects in a VR environment and describes the associated semantics of each element in the taxonomy. These semantics are used to direct the way an object interacts with an observer and with other objects in the environment