UPRMTVE Terrain Visualization Explorer A visualization framework for

UPRM-TVE: Terrain Visualization Explorer A visualization framework for the Study of Wetlands Automated Information Processing Group Ricardo Veguilla-González M. S. Student in Computer Engineering veguilla@ece. uprm. edu Nayda G. Santiago, Ph. D. Faculty Advisor nayda. santiago@ece. uprm. edu project description project status Understanding the dynamics of the hydrological phenomena associated to wetlands requires analyzing models built upon remotely gathered data, such as satellite images or digital elevation maps (DEM). The goal of this project is to develop a framework which will allow building more powerful visualization tools to complement the analysis of hydrological models for the study of wetlands. A prototype application was developed which is currently being used as a starting point for analyzing the performance considerations related to the real-time rendering of DEM in normal PC desktops. It will also allow us to start experimenting with different visualization techniques by building different data pipelines, researching new approaches related to terrain modeling, visualization, and analysis. proposed work This project aims to design and develop a framework for terrain visualization flexible enough to allow arbitrary visualization of terrain data using hardware acceleration available in common computers, and leveraging distributed computing resources where appropriate. The framework should integrate external data management and storage resources through an easy to use GUI. This framework will allow us to research new approaches related to the spatialtemporal exploration of terrain data through visualization, and the development of data partitioning and management schemes and/or algorithms that incorporate level-of-detail (LOD) rendering optimizations, performance scalability, data streaming considerations, and visualization-related metadata. The Island of Hawaii – Visualization combining digital elevation map with satellite image. Rendered with prototype application. future work Using DEM and satellite images of the Jobos Bay Reserve, we will explore different aspect related to: • Performance scalability of terrain visualization. • Scientific visualization of spatial-temporal data. architecture • Integration of diverse data acquired through remote sensing. Modular architecture design allows customizing the data pipeline to better exploit the available resources and to provide multiple visualization options. I/O Layer Source Acquisition File system Database Remote Repository Unify multiple data repositories. Data Reduction Layer Format Conversion Metric Multi-scale Reduction DEM Nearest Point TIN Linear Interpolation TIFF Bilinear Interpolation BMP Inverse Distance Weighting Transparent support for multi-format data files. Uniformly reduce data resolution for better scalability. Visual Multi-scale Reduction Progressive Meshes Discrete LOD Rendering Layer Tessellation Rendering Point, Lines, Polygons Texture Mapping Triangle/ Quads Strips Continuous LOD Real-time Optimally Adapting Meshes Further reduce data by eliminating detail in areas far from the viewpoint. Vertex arrays Height. Based Coloring Stereoscopic Rendering Bezier Curves Provides different 3 D representations allowing to exploit for vendordependant optimizations. Enhance the terrain 3 D representation by incorporating additional visual aids. • Integration between hydrological modeling and visualization. references 1. Rabinovich, B. and Gotsman, C. 1997. “Visualization of large terrains in resource-limited computing environments. ” In Proceedings of the 8 th Conference on Visualization '97 (Phoenix, Arizona, United States, October 18 - 24, 1997). R. Yagel and H. Hagen, Eds. IEEE Visualization. IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 95 -102. 2. Lindstrom, P. , Koller, D. , Ribarsky, W. , Hodges, L. F. , Faust, N. , and Turner, G. A. 1996. “Real-time, continuous level of detail rendering of height fields. ” In Proceedings of the 23 rd Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and interactive Techniques SIGGRAPH '96. ACM Press, New York, NY, 109 -118. 3. Yuan, M. , 1996. “Temporal GIS and spatio-temporal modeling. ” In: International Conference/Workshop Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling, January. technology 4. NERRS - Jobos Bay Reserve - http: //nerrs. noaa. gov/Jobos. Bay/ Implementation in Java using Open. GL for cross-platform deployment with hardware accelerated rendering. 5. Reserva Nacional de Investigación Estuarina Bahía de Jobos http: //ctp. uprm. edu/jobos/