Markus Jobst

Interactive Multi-Perspective Views of Virtual 3D Landscape and City Models

Based on principles of panorama maps we present an interactive visualization technique that generates multi-perspective views of complex spatial environments such as virtual 3D landscape and city models. Panorama maps seamlessly combine easily readable maps in the foreground with 3D views in the background – both within a single image. Such nonlinear, non-standard 3D projections enable novel focus & context views of complex virtual spatial environments. The presented technique relies on global space deformation to model multi-perspective views while using a standard linear projection for rendering which enables single-pass processing by graphics hardware. It automatically configures the deformation in a view-dependent way to maintain the multi-perspective view in an interactive environment. The technique supports different distortion schemata beyond classical panorama maps and can seamlessly combine different visualization styles of focus and context areas. We exemplify our approach in an interactive 3D tourist information system.

The Employment of 3D in Cartography — An Overview

The likely future for 3D cartographic products seems to be supported by various fields of work. First of all, technical development of processors, graphics, small devices and alternate interfaces now enable applicability in a ubiquitous manner. Computers are increasingly more powerful, decreasing in size, consuming less energy and becoming incorporable into everyday objects. Furthermore, dissemination becomes exceedingly supported by universal file formats and system independent interpreting software. Several developments already focus their support for various operating systems.

Cartography-Oriented Design of 3D Geospatial Information Visualization – Overview and Techniques

In economy, society and personal life map-based interactive geospatial visualization becomes a natural element of a growing number of applications and systems. The visualization of 3D geospatial information, however, raises the question how to represent the information in an effective way. Considerable research has been done in technology-driven directions in the fields of cartography and computer graphics (e.g., design principles, visualization techniques). Here, non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) represents a promising visualization category – situated between both fields – that offers a large number of degrees for the cartography-oriented visual design of complex 2D and 3D geospatial information for a given application context. Still today, however, specifications and techniques for mapping cartographic design principles to the state-of-the-art rendering pipeline of 3D computer graphics remain to be explored. This paper revisits cartographic design principles for 3D geospatial visualization and introduces an extended 3D semiotic model that complies with the general, interactive visualization pipeline. Based on this model, we propose NPR techniques to interactively synthesize cartographic renditions of basic feature types, such as terrain, water, and buildings. In particular, it includes a novel iconification concept to seamlessly interpolate between photorealistic and cartographic representations of 3D landmarks. Our work concludes with a discussion of open challenges in this field of research, including topics, such as user interaction and evaluation.

An Evaluation Method for Determining Map-Quality

The quality of maps, geo-visualization and usage of multimedia presentation techniques for spatial communication is an important issue for map creation, distribution and acceptance of these information systems (IS) by a public community. The purpose of this paper is to present an evaluation method based on stochastic reasoning for supporting map designers. We investigate the applicability of Bayesian Belief networks and present a prototypical implementation. We will give an outlook to future research questions.

Standards and Open Source for Cartographic Multimedia Applications

Standards are useful for almost all kinds ‘exchange’ applications and have enormous impact when transferring/using digital data. For cartographic applications the influence of standards on technical implementations are becoming standard in telecommunications and spatial description, where these formats result in executable software. Thus the use of standards may affect interoperability in each step of the cartographic communication process.

Changing Paradigm in Map Production and Geoinformation Management—An Introduction

Maps influence our daily life, either by being an interface that we consult, or in form of precise geospatial information in the background that influences our daily devices, such as the smartphone or car. The access to maps evolves into basic rights that e.g. is realized with volunteered geographic information. The concepts of processing geospatial data, creating geospatial information and transmitting geospatial knowledge make use of service-oriented architectures. The paradigm seems to change from a “collecting—assembling—storing” to a “reusing—assembling—sharing” methodology. This chapter explores the new paradigm in map production and geoinformation management, highlights its relevance and discusses the main important requirements that need to be considered.

Establishing Common Ground Through INSPIRE: The Legally-Driven European Spatial Data Infrastructure

Back in the 1990s, there were several barriers for accessing and using the spatial data and information necessary for environmental management and policy making in Europe. These included different data policies, encodings, formats and semantics, to name a few. Data was collected for, and applied to, domain specific use cases and comprehensive standards did not exist, all impacting on the re-usability of such public sector data. To release the potential of spatial data held by public authorities and improve evidence-based environmental policy making, action was needed at all levels (Local, Regional, National, European) to introduce more effective data and information management and to make data available for citizens’ interest. The INSPIRE Directive, the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe, directly addresses this set of problems. The Directive came into force on 15 May 2007, with full implementation in every EU Member State required by 2021. It combines both, a legal and a technical framework for the EU Member States, to make relevant spatial data accessible and reused. Specifically, this has meant making data discoverable and interoperable through a common set of standards, data models and Internet services. The Directive’s data scope covers 34 themes of cross-sector relevance as a decentralised infrastructure where data remains at the place it can be best maintained. A great deal of experience has been gained by public administrations through its implementation. Due to its complexity and wide scope, this is taking place in a stepwise manner, with benefits already emerging as important deadlines approached. Efficient and effective coordination are following the participatory approach established in its design. It is timely to reflect on 10 years of progress of the “cultural change” which the European Spatial Data Infrastructure represents. We therefore, consider the lessons INSPIRE is offering for those interested in joined-up and federated approaches to geospatial data-sharing and semantic interoperability across borders and sectors. The approach itself is evolving through this experience.

Progress in Cartography

In the past, point data only play a minor role in map generalization, as points are either already the result of generalization or are used for objects which are only shown on large scale maps. Now, with the growing availability of web mapping services the role of point data has changed: Besides route planning, the most common function of web maps is the visualization of user queries for points of interest. The limited size of commonly used displays often results in a smaller scale as would be appropriate for the maps content. The state of the art to resolve occurring cluttered point sets, is on the one hand interactivity and on the other hand the selection of points. Thus, often the available space is not optimally used. Therefore, we propose a displacement method to improve the readability of dense sets of points of interest.

The Role of Service-Oriented Mapping in Spatial and Regional Sciences

By now geoinformation is available everytime and modern maps rule our daily life. Whenever we leave our homes, we have made plans where to go to. If it is a new route we have generally used a map (application). We plan the way that we need to take or evaluate the transport network and its connections. If we feel lost, we take another look in the map and/or try to find reference semantics which will bring us back to our geospatial imagery—our individual mental picture of the world. At the same time, in our cross-linked world, we produce tons of unstructured data that describe the way we use our environment (nature, things and people). For example: when do we need electricity? For what actions? How much do we consume to what time of the day or in which situation? Does this electricity usage change with our age, education, employment—or any other demographic value? What is the impact of the surrounding topography on our electricity needs? All these questions can be answered by data that we leave in space with our actions and devices in addition to existing geospatial core data. In order to make use of unstructured data, we have to ask questions which allow for a first requirement analysis and lead to the primary model of data: a first data structure considering our questionnaire requirements. These models are worth distributing because a lot of questions are similar and variety of people could make value out of it. Information about validity, lineage, purpose of creation, recording method, and so on are needed to evaluate the data for specific use cases. This contribution describes a work in progress on the role of Service Oriented Mapping in spatial and regional sciences by means of a use case in health geography. Therefore it follows the thesis that specific requirements for the analysis, regional investigation and knowledge transmission in regional sciences exist. These specific requirements could be extensively supported by the specific structure of Service-Oriented Mapping. Some requirements of regional sciences as well as the offers of Service-Oriented Mapping will be exemplified on the basis of a case study “health geographies”. Future tasks for the field of Service-Oriented Mapping and its communication issues could be elaborated from this first requirements analysis and a main future perspective of “Service-Oriented regional sciences” could be formulated.

Enhancing Interactive NonPlanar Projections of 3D Geovirtual Environments with Stereoscopic Imaging

Stereo rendering, as an additional visual cue for humans, is an important method to increase the immersion into 3D virtual environments. Stereo pairs synthesized for the left and right eye are displayed in a way that the human visual system interprets as 3D perception. Stereoscopy is an emerging field in cinematography and gaming. While generating stereo images is well known for standard projections, the implementation of stereoscopic viewing for interactive non-planar single-centre projections, such as cylindrical and spherical projections, is still a challenge. This paper presents the results of adapting an existing image-based approach for generating interactive stereoscopic non-planar projections for polygonal scenes on consumer graphics hardware. In particular, it introduces a rendering technique for generating image-based, non-planar stereo pairs within a single rendering pass. Further, this paper presents a comparison between the image-based and a geometry-based approach with respect to selected criteria.