3D Database System of Mercede Church: The Use of 3D Models as an Interface to Information

Abstract

Advancement in 3D modelling technologies has enabled us to obtain high resolution 3D models of real objects, for example historic buildings. Unfortunately, however, the application tools for large models have not been existed, which allow experts and other people outsides of the field of computer engineering to utilize the 3D models effectively. We introduce a GUI-based application tool enabling users to easily add and manipulate optional information on the certain area of 3D models, and to retrieve that information when viewing the 3D models. The "3D database system" can deal with much information by connecting to existing database systems. In addition to that, we realize efficient selecting surfaces and accessing information on the regions for large models, using a segmentation method of 3D models' surfaces. We demonstrated this tool using the 3D model of Mercede Church, in Panama City