Visualization of climate simulation data in virtual reality using commercial game engines

Due to the size of its customer base the video game industry has long been the best-funded proponent of innovative real-time computer graphics. Many advancements in the field of computer graphics, software and hardware, have become cost-effective due to their use in video games, which in turn funded even further research and breakthroughs. Recent changes in the monetization of commercial game engines made their use in less revenue driven institutions affordable and, hence, possible. This allows us, given suitable hardware, to build and run computationally expensive fully interactive real-time visualizations at a fraction of the cost and time. We can thus investigate and explore the data in our virtual reality application far sooner. Additionally, we are able to spend more time to iteratively refine the user interaction as well as the preprocessing of the raw scientific data. We supply our visualization with the output data of ClimEx’ computational run on the SuperMUC. ClimEx is a research project that studies the effects of climate change on meteorological and hydrological extreme events. It features a multitude of climate-relevant variables and observes the time span between 1950 and 2100. For our use case we chose to compare three different precipitation events. Each event consists of simulated 60 hours of rainfall data anteceding a potential 100-year flood, which is a flood event that has an annual exceedance rate of 1%. The first event draws from historical data and represents the rain leading up to the 1999 Pentecost flood. We compare these data with two computer generated prospective events, which take place in 2060 and 2081, respectively. Since we wish to gain knowledge on strong local extrema as well as the comprehensive overall trend of the attributes, we chose to display the data in virtual reality. The virtually unlimited number of perspectives and points of view simplify investigating and understanding the three-dimensional data. We are also able to place the observer at the center of the data and empower them to interact with and steer the visualization in intuitive ways. By utilizing a tool like virtual reality, we are able to create an immersive, interactive and engaging user experience, which further facilitates the user’s ability to focus on the visual display and extract information from the displayed data. This allows users, especially non-expert users, to grasp the data we present in our visualization with less effort. In our paper we present the necessary steps to create an immersive virtual reality 3D visualization from raw scientific data based on our use case. This entails several aspects of pre-processing, a simple, suitable user interface as well as our solutions to the challenges we encountered

Ten years Center for Immersive Visualizations - Past, Present, and Future

Virtual Reality (VR) can be found in many fields. A majority of the time this involves the use of Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs). Their alternatives, large-scale immersive 3D screens and CAVE systems, can also be found in research and offer researchers high visual quality and collaborative VR experiences. This report covers the operation and learnings from maintaining a visualization center with large-scale immersive installations over the course of ten years

Stroll’n’Draw, All Inclusive: Let Us Embrace Contingency to Visualise and to Reinforce the Uniqueness of Places

In this paper, I discuss the education of inclusive urbanism as the inclusion of the environmental awareness genesis, attitudes toward urban design, cognitive biases and the acceptance of contingency. How do places ‘happen’ to become what they are? What characterises their potentially unreducible singularity in light of general planning laws? I suggest educating along a didactic triangle of rules, novelty and singularity in a spatialisable tabular fashion. In addition to using the methods presented here in teaching, these approaches can also be used to create more inclusion in urban development processes as a whole. With a 3D visualisation matrix of analogue, hybrid and digital methods, I proceed to four exemplary multi-methodological teaching modes to tackle the ever-bygone status quo, to introduce research methodology and, thereby, the defeasibility of both the premises and the conclusions in all-too traditional urban design. I focus on abductive reasoning between the unique locality and the general space of possibility as trial acting and “plan-b thinking” to dialectically shuttle within didactic triangle and visualisation matrix. The curriculum allows for principal and exemplary multi-methodological cross-linkage. Open projects serve as stepping stones into the broad variety of non-algorithmic human occupations in 21st century urban planning. Let us understand our own multiple personal urbanites way beyond professional applicability

Plataformas geoespaciales y herramientas inmersivas para la cohesión social: la narrativa 4D de la arquitectura de los camelleros afganos de Australia

[EN] This paper focuses on examining the scope of virtual architectural archaeology in forms of digital geospatial platforms and immersive tools such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)tobe used for achieving social cohesion, particularly in a multicultural and multi-ethnic society like Australia’s.In the context of the current global and national concern about Muslims and Islam,as well as for the mistrust towards and distancebetween Muslims and Non-Muslimsin Australia, it is imperative to delve deeper into the contribution of early Muslim pioneers, in this case,the Afghan Cameleers, in the social fabric of colonial Australia. Based on the premise that architecture could bea unique and revealing research frame to gain insight into human values, worldview and material culture, the main aim of thispaperisto address two key issues using virtualarchitecturalarchaeology. Firstly,to demonstrate the applicationof4D capturing and component-based modelling with metadata and paradata regarding the past of the lost architectural heritage sites in remote centraland westernAustralia, also counting on assets such as Linked Open Data(LOD) for further dissemination and use. Secondly, to propose amode todisseminatenew knowledge through digital platforms and VR/ARexperiences to the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums)audiencesand schools regarding the Muslims in Australia.Understanding properly them and their contribution to theAustralian societywouldeventuallyminimise the cultural distance between Muslimsand Non-Muslims in Australia. Greater awarenesscould mitigate the myth of fear and mistrust regarding Muslimsand Islam, widely misunderstood for a long time.Este trabajo examina el alcance de la arqueología arquitectónica virtual en forma de plataformas geoespaciales digitales y herramientas inmersivas,como la Realidad Virtual (RV) y la Realidad Aumentada (RA) que se utilizarán como medios para la cohesión social, en particular en una sociedad multicultural y multiétnica como la australiana. En el contexto de la actual preocupación nacional y mundial por los musulmanes y el islam, así como porla desconfianza y eldistanciamientoentre musulmanes y no musulmanes en Australia, es imperativo profundizar en la contribución de los primeros pioneros musulmanes, en este caso los camellerosafganos, en el tejido social de la Australia colonial. Basado en la premisa de que la arquitectura podría ser un marco de investigación único y revelador para comprender mejor los valores humanos, la cosmovisión y la cultura material, el objetivo principal deeste artículo esabordar dos cuestiones clave utilizando la arqueología arquitectónica virtual. En primer lugar, demostrar la aplicación de la captura en 4D y la modelización basada en componentes con metadatos y paradatos sobre el pasado de los sitios del patrimonio arquitectónico perdidos en lugares remotos del centro y oeste de Australia; además, se cuenta con activos como Linked Open Data (LOD) para su posterior difusión y uso. En segundo lugar, proponer a las audiencias y escuelas del GLAM (en español Galerías, Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos) un modo de difusión de nuevos conocimientos a través de plataformas digitales y experiencias de RV/RAsobre los musulmanes en Australia y su contribución a la sociedad australiana, lo que, en última instancia, reduciría al mínimo el distanciamientoentre los musulmanes y los no musulmanes en Australia. Una comprensión social/cultural adecuada mitigaría el mito del miedo y la desconfianza con respecto a los musulmanes y el islam, eliminando malas interpretaciones sobre su carácter y forma de vida (que les han afectado durante mucho tiempo).ARC (Australian Research Council) Linkage grant Project of Architecture of Australia’s Muslim Pioneer (2014-18), which was a joint collaboration between The University of Adelaide, International Islamic University Malaysia and South Australian Museum.Rashid, MM.; Antlej, K. (2020). Geospatial platforms and immersive tools for social cohesion: the 4D narrative of architecture of Australia’s Afghan cameleers. Virtual Archaeology Review. 11(22):74-84. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2020.12230OJS74841122Australian Museums and Galleries Association Incorporated (2018). A Roadmap for Enhancing Indigenous Engagement in Museums and Galleries. Retrieved November 18, 2019, from https://www.mgaindigenousroadmap.com.auAustralian Bureau of Statistics (2017). Media Release: 2016 Census data reveals "no religion" is rising fast. Retrieved August 14, 2019, from https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/ 7E65A144540551D7CA258148000E2B85Abdel-Fattah, R. (2017). Islamophobia and Everyday Multiculturalism in Australia. Milton: Taylors and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315179933Akhbarzadeh, S. (2016). The Muslim question In Australia: Islamophobia and Muslim alienation. Journal of Muslim Minority Affair, 36(3), 323-333. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2016.1212493Banfi, F., Brumana, R., & Stanga, C. (2019). Extended reality and informative models for the architectural heritage: from scan-to-BIM process to virtual and augmented reality. Virtual Archaeology Review, 10(21), 14-30. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2019.11923Bree, P. van, & Kessels, G. (2013). Nodegoat: a web-based data management, network analysis & visualisation environment. Retrieved August 14, 2019, from http://nodegoat.netBrumana, R., Oreni, D., Caspani, S., & Previtali, M. (2018). Virtual museums and built environment: narratives and immersive experience via multi-temporal geodata hub. Virtual Archaeology Review, 9(19), 34-49. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2018.9918Carnevali, L., Lanfranchi, F., & Russo, M. (2019). Built information modeling for the 3D reconstruction of modern railway stations. Heritage, 2(3), 2298-2310. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage2030141Charbonneau, N., Spiric, N., Blais, V., Robichaud, L., & Burgess, J. (2018). 4D modelling of built heritage: A system offering an alternative to using BIM. Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, 8(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.16995/dscn.283Cuperschmid, A. R. M., Fabricio, M. M., & Franco, J. C. (2019). HBIM development of a Brazilian modern architecture icon: Glass House by Lina Bo Bardi. Heritage, 2(3), 1927-1940. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage2030117Domínguez-Martín, E. (2015). Immersive journalism or how virtual reality and video games are influencing the interface and the interactivity of news storytelling. Profesional de la Información, 24(4), 413-423. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2015.jul.08Doulamis, A., Doulamis, N., Protopapadakis, E., Voulodimos, A., & Ioannides, M. (2018). 4D modelling in cultural heritage. In M. Ioannides, J. Martins, R. Žarnić, & V. Lim (Eds.), Advances in Digital Cultural Heritage. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol 10754 (pp. 174-196). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75789-6_13Frischer, B., Abernathy, D., Guidi, G., Myers, J., Thibodeau, C., Salvemini, A., Hofstee, P., & Minor, B. (2008). Rome reborn. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2008 new tech demos (34). https://doi.org/10.1145/1401615.1401649 Ganter, R. (2008). Muslim Australians: The deep histories of contact. Journal of Australian Studies, 32(4), 481-492. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443050802471384Giang, H. N. K. (2015). Medieval craftsmen at Castle Waldenfels. Historical construction work as serious game. In P. Ferschin & M. Di Angelo (Eds.), 2015 Digital Heritage (pp. 243-250). https://doi.org/10.1109/DigitalHeritage.2015.7419504IADV, DIA, Deakin IKE and SCCA (2018). Australian Indigenous Design Charter. Retrieved November 18, 2019, from http://indigenousdesigncharter.com.au/Jones, P. & Kenny, A. (2010). Australia's Muslim Cameleers. Adelaide, Australia: Wakefield Press.Juckette, C. F. (2019). Using virtual reality and remotely sensed data to explore object identity and embodiment in a Virtual Mayan city (Master's Thesis, University of Nebraska).Kabir, N. (2006). Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Australian media, 2001-2005. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 26(3), 313-328. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602000601141281Kabir, N. (2007). Muslims in Australia: The double edge of terrorism. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 33(8), 1277-97. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830701614072Kargas, A., Loumos, G., & Varoutas, D. (2019). Using different ways of 3D reconstruction of historical cities for gaming purposes: The case study of Nafplio. Heritage, 2(3), 1799-1811. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage2030110Kyriakaki, G., Doulamis, A., Doulamis, N., Ioannides, M., Makantasis, K., Protopapadakis, E., Hadjiprocopisb, A., Wenzelc, K., Fritschc, D., Klein, M., & Weinlingerd, G. (2014). 4D reconstruction of tangible cultural heritage objects from web-retrieved images. International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era, 3(2), 431-451. https://doi.org/10.1260/2047-4970.3.2.431Lercari, N. (2018). Virtually rebuilding Çatalhöyük history houses. In I. A. N. Hodder (Ed.), Religion, History, and Place in the Origin of Settled Life (pp. 263-282). Louisville, Colorado: University Press of Colorado. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv3c0thfLercari, N., Shiferaw, E., Forte, M., & Kopper, R. (2018). Immersive visualization and curation of archaeological heritage data: Çatalhöyük and the Dig@IT App. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 25(2), 368-392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9340-4Lukas, D., Engel, C., & Mazzucato, C. (2018). Towards a living archive: Making multi layered research data and knowledge generation transparent. Journal of Field Archaeology, 43(1), 19-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2018.1516110Maiwald, F., Bruschke, J., Lehmann, C., & Niebling, F. (2019). A 4D information system for the exploration of multitemporal images and maps using photogrammetry, web technologies and VR/AR. Virtual Archaeology Review, 10(21), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2019.11867Markus, A. (2018). Mapping Social Cohesion, The Scanlon Foundation Survey 2018. Melbourne, Australia: Monash University. Retrieved August 14, 2019, from https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1585269/mapping-social-cohesion-national-report-2018.pdfMarchant, G. (2019). Virtual reality brings 'invisible history' of the outback Muslims who helped build Australia to life. ABC North and West SA. Retrieved August 14, 2019, from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-19/vr-exposes-how-outback-muslims-built-australia/10709714Mortara, M., Catalano, C. E., Bellotti, F., Fiucci, G., Houry-Panchetti, M., & Petridis, P. (2014). Learning cultural heritage by serious games. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 15(3), 318-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2013.04.004Napolitano, R., Jennings, C., Feist, S., Rettew, A., Sommers, G., Smagh, H., Hicks, B., & Glisic, B. (2019). Tool development for digital reconstruction: A framework for a database of historic Roman construction materials. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 40, 113-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2019.05.007Nieto, E., Moyano, J. J., & García, Á. (2019). Construction study of the Palace of the Children of Don Gome (Andújar, Jaén), managed through the HBIM project. Virtual Archaeology Review, 2019, 10(20), 84-97. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2019.10567Pletinckx, D., Callebaut, D., Killebrew, A. E., & Silberman, N. A. (2000). Virtual-reality heritage presentation at Ename. IEEE MultiMedia, 7(2), 45-48. https://doi.org/10.1109/93.848427Pletinckx, D., De Jaegher, L., Helsen, T., Langen, I., Silberman, N. A., Van der Donckt, M.-C., & Stobbe, J. (2004). Telling the local story: An interactive cultural presentation system for community and regional settings. In Y. Chrysanthou, K. Cain, N. Silberman, & F. Niccolucci (Eds.), VAST 2004: The 5th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (pp. 233-239). https://doi.org/10.2312/VAST/VAST04/233-239Rashid, M. (2013). Transforming constraints into opportunities: A case study of the virtual reconstruction of Sompur Mahavihara at Paharpur, Bengal. In A. Sapian (Ed.), Research Methodology in Built Environment. Kuala Lumpur: IIUM Press.Rashid, M. & Bartsch, K. (2012). Hybrid histories: A framework to rethink 'Islamic' architecture. In S. King & S. Loo (Eds.), Proceedings of Fabulation: Myth, Nature, Heritage, 29th Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ). Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.Rashid, M. & Rahaman, H. (2011). Revisiting the past through virtual reconstruction: The case study of the Grand Monuments at Paharpur, Bengal. In Pallatium: Virtual Palaces Workshop I. Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium,18-19 November, 2011.Richards-Rissetto, H. (2017). An iterative 3D GIS analysis of the role of visibility in ancient Maya landscapes: A case study from Copan, Honduras. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 32(2), 195-212. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqx014Richards-Rissetto, H., & von Schwerin, J. (2017). A catch 22 of 3D data sustainability: Lessons in 3D archaeological data management & accessibility. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 6, 38-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2017.04.005Rizvic, S., Sadzak, A., Hulusic, V., & Karahasanovic, A. (2013). Interactive digital storytelling in the Sarajevo survival tools virtual environment. In Proceedings of the 28th spring conference on computer graphics (pp. 109-116). New York, New York: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2448531.2448545Rodríguez-Gonzálvez, P., Muñoz-Nieto, A. L., del Pozo, S., Sanchez-Aparicio, L. J., Gonzalez-Aguilera, D., Micoli, L., Gonizzi Barsanti, S., Guidi, G., Mills, J., & Fieber, K. (2017). 4D reconstruction and visualization of cultural heritage: Analyzing our legacy through time. International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLII-2/W3, 609-616. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W3-609-2017Şahbaz, E., & Özköse, A. (2018). Experiencing historical buildings through digital computer games. International Journal of Architectural Computing, 16(1), 22-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478077117749960Scriver, P. (2004). Mosques, ghantowns and cameleers in the settlement history of colonial Australia. Fabrications, 13(2), 19-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/10331867.2004.10525182https://doi.org/10.1080/10331867.2004.10525182Scriver, P., Bartsch, K., & Rashid, M. (2016). The space of citizenship: drifting and dwelling in 'Imperial' Australia. Fabrications, 26(2), 133-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/10331867.2016.1183762Stevens, C. (2002). Tin Mosques and Ghantowns: A History of Afghan Cameldrivers in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press. Originally published in 1989

A critical review of digital technology innovations for early warning of water-related disease outbreaks associated with climatic hazards

Water-related climatic disasters pose a significant threat to human health due to the potential of disease outbreaks, which are exacerbated by climate change. Therefore, it is crucial to predict their occurrence with sufficient lead time to allow for contingency plans to reduce risks to the population. Opportunities to address this challenge can be found in the rapid evolution of digital technologies. This study conducted a critical analysis of recent publications investigating advanced technologies and digital innovations for forecasting, alerting, and responding to water-related extreme events, particularly flooding, which is often linked to disaster-related disease outbreaks. The results indicate that certain digital innovations, such as portable and local sensors integrated with web-based platforms are new era for predicting events, developing control strategies and establishing early warning systems. Other technologies, such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and social media, can be more effective for monitoring flood spread, disseminating before/during the event information, and issuing warnings or directing emergency responses. The study also identified that the collection and translation of reliable data into information can be a major challenge for effective early warning systems and the adoption of digital innovations in disaster management. Augmented reality, and digital twin technologies should be further explored as valuable tools for better providing of communicating complex information on disaster development and response strategies to a wider range of audiences, particularly non-experts. This can help to increase community engagement in designing and operating effective early warning systems that can reduce the health impact of climatic disasters

Novel Ways of Discovering, Capturing and Experiencing Cultural Heritage: A Review of Current State-of-the-Art, Challenges and Future Directions

The present chapter investigates the emerging paradigm of cultural heritage experience, as shaped by the continuous advances in information technologies. Recent years have seen the growing digitisation of cultural heritage, leveraged by innovative information technologies (imaging technologies, multimedia, virtual reality etc.). Advanced digitisation, and digital preservation and accessibility have been instrumental in transforming conservation and scientific research methods in the field of cultural heritage, as well as people’s experience of cultural heritage assets, relics, and monuments. Digitisation and immersion technologies are already in use in the context of cultural tourism in museums and on location. At the same time, a manifold of new applications and services can be generated from the adoption and adaptation of relevant technologies already applied in other sectors (e.g. 2D/3D digital scanning technologies applied in the construction industry). The present chapter will provide a thorough review of relevant digital technologies and existing work in the field, highlighting important research efforts and achievements; and will discuss the current challenges and promising avenues for future work. Following a literature review methodology, our research will provide a critical appraisal of carefully selected work from recent scientific literature and contribute to the systematisation of the current knowledge in the field towards the identification of key challenges and the extraction of new insights in terms of potential for practical applications and future research directions in the area

3D Spatial Data Infrastructures for web-based Visualization

In this thesis, concepts for developing Spatial Data Infrastructures with an emphasis on visualizing 3D landscape and city models in distributed environments are discussed. Spatial Data Infrastructures are important for public authorities in order to perform tasks on a daily basis, and serve as research topic in geo-informatics. Joint initiatives at national and international level exist for harmonizing procedures and technologies. Interoperability is an important aspect in this context - as enabling technology for sharing, distributing, and connecting geospatial data and services. The Open Geospatial Consortium is the main driver for developing international standards in this sector and includes government agencies, universities and private companies in a consensus process. 3D city models are becoming increasingly popular not only in desktop Virtual Reality applications but also for being used in professional purposes by public authorities. Spatial Data Infrastructures focus so far on the storage and exchange of 3D building and elevation data. For efficient streaming and visualization of spatial 3D data in distributed network environments such as the internet, concepts from the area of real time 3D Computer Graphics must be applied and combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). For example, scene graph data structures are commonly used for creating complex and dynamic 3D environments for computer games and Virtual Reality applications, but have not been introduced in GIS so far. In this thesis, several aspects of how to create interoperable and service-based environments for 3D spatial data are addressed. These aspects are covered by publications in journals and conference proceedings. The introductory chapter provides a logic succession from geometrical operations for processing raw data, to data integration patterns, to system designs of single components, to service interface descriptions and workflows, and finally to an architecture of a complete distributed service network. Digital Elevation Models are very important in 3D geo-visualization systems. Data structures, methods and processes are described for making them available in service based infrastructures. A specific mesh reduction method is used for generating lower levels of detail from very large point data sets. An integration technique is presented that allows the combination with 2D GIS data such as roads and land use areas. This approach allows using another optimization technique that greatly improves the usability for immersive 3D applications such as pedestrian navigation: flattening road and water surfaces. It is a geometric operation, which uses data structures and algorithms found in numerical simulation software implementing Finite Element Methods. 3D Routing is presented as a typical application scenario for detailed 3D city models. Specific problems such as bridges, overpasses and multilevel networks are addressed and possible solutions described. The integration of routing capabilities in service infrastructures can be accomplished with standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium. An additional service is described for creating 3D networks and for generating 3D routes on the fly. Visualization of indoor routes requires different representation techniques. As server interface for providing access to all 3D data, the Web 3D Service has been used and further developed. Integrating and handling scene graph data is described in order to create rich virtual environments. Coordinate transformations of scene graphs are described in detail, which is an important aspect for ensuring interoperability between systems using different spatial reference systems. The Web 3D Service plays a central part in nearly all experiments that have been carried out. It does not only provide the means for interactive web-visualizations, but also for performing further analyses, accessing detailed feature information, and for automatic content discovery. OpenStreetMap and other worldwide available datasets are used for developing a complete architecture demonstrating the scalability of 3D Spatial Data Infrastructures. Its suitability for creating 3D city models is analyzed, according to requirements set by international standards. A full virtual globe system has been developed based on OpenStreetMap including data processing, database storage, web streaming and a visualization client. Results are discussed and compared to similar approaches within geo-informatics research, clarifying in which application scenarios and under which requirements the approaches in this thesis can be applied

Augmented reality over maps

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia InformáticaMaps and Geographic Information System (GIS) play a major role in modern society, particularly on tourism, navigation and personal guidance. However, providing geographical information of interest related to individual queries remains a strenuous task. The main constraints are (1) the several information scales available, (2) the large amount of information available on each scale, and (3) difficulty in directly infer a meaningful geographical context from text, pictures, or diagrams that are used by most user-aiding systems. To that extent, and to overcome the aforementioned difficulties, we develop a solution which allows the overlap of visual information over the maps being queried — a method commonly referred to as Augmented Reality (AR). With that in mind, the object of this dissertation is the research and implementation of a method for the delivery of visual cartographic information over physical (analogue) and digital two-dimensional (2D) maps utilizing AR. We review existing state-of-art solutions and outline their limitations across different use cases. Afterwards, we provide a generic modular solution for a multitude of real-life applications, to name a few: museums, fairs, expositions, and public street maps. During the development phase, we take into consideration the trade-off between speed and accuracy in order to develop an accurate and real-time solution. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of our methods with an application on a real use case based on a map of the city of Oporto, in Portugal.Mapas e Sistema de Informação Geográfica (GIS) desempenham um papel importante na sociedade, particularmente no turismo, navegação e orientação pessoal. No entanto, fornecer informações geográficas de interesse a consultas dos utilizadores é uma tarefa árdua. Os principais dificuldades são (1) as várias escalas de informações disponíveis, (2) a grande quantidade de informação disponível em cada escala e (3) dificuldade em inferir diretamente um contexto geográfico significativo a partir dos textos, figuras ou diagramas usados. Assim, e para superar as dificuldades mencionadas, desenvolvemos uma solução que permite a sobreposição de informações visuais sobre os mapas que estão a ser consultados - um método geralmente conhecido como Realidade Aumentada (AR). Neste sentido, o objetivo desta dissertação é a pesquisa e implementação de um método para a visualização de informações cartográficas sobre mapas 2D físicos (analógicos) e digitais utilizando AR. Em primeiro lugar, analisamos o estado da arte juntamente com as soluções existentes e também as suas limitações nas diversas utilizações possíveis. Posteriormente, fornecemos uma solução modular genérica para uma várias aplicações reais tais como: museus, feiras, exposições e mapas públicos de ruas. Durante a fase de desenvolvimento, tivemos em consideração o compromisso entre velocidade e precisão, a fim de desenvolver uma solução precisa que funciona em tempo real. Por fim, demonstramos a viabilidade de nossos métodos com uma aplicação num caso de uso real baseado num mapa da cidade do Porto (Portugal)

Multimodal Content Delivery for Geo-services

This thesis describes a body of work carried out over several research projects in the area of multimodal interaction for location-based services. Research in this area has progressed from using simulated mobile environments to demonstrate the visual modality, to the ubiquitous delivery of rich media using multimodal interfaces (geo- services). To effectively deliver these services, research focused on innovative solutions to real-world problems in a number of disciplines including geo-location, mobile spatial interaction, location-based services, rich media interfaces and auditory user interfaces. My original contributions to knowledge are made in the areas of multimodal interaction underpinned by advances in geo-location technology and supported by the proliferation of mobile device technology into modern life. Accurate positioning is a known problem for location-based services, contributions in the area of mobile positioning demonstrate a hybrid positioning technology for mobile devices that uses terrestrial beacons to trilaterate position. Information overload is an active concern for location-based applications that struggle to manage large amounts of data, contributions in the area of egocentric visibility that filter data based on field-of-view demonstrate novel forms of multimodal input. One of the more pertinent characteristics of these applications is the delivery or output modality employed (auditory, visual or tactile). Further contributions in the area of multimodal content delivery are made, where multiple modalities are used to deliver information using graphical user interfaces, tactile interfaces and more notably auditory user interfaces. It is demonstrated how a combination of these interfaces can be used to synergistically deliver context sensitive rich media to users - in a responsive way - based on usage scenarios that consider the affordance of the device, the geographical position and bearing of the device and also the location of the device