A prototype architecture for interactive 3D maps on the web
Date
2024
Authors
Liu, Ting
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Abstract
Virtual 3D city models offer detailed 3D representations of urban space and serve in various fields, such as urban planning, architecture, navigation, and environmental simulation. With the advancement of technologies such as photogrammetry and laser scanning, the scale of 3D city models has increased significantly, making it a challenge to transmit and visualize such large datasets for sharing purposes. The development of advanced web technologies and the emergence of WebGL has made it possible to render and share large-scale 3D city models on the Internet. In addition, the introduction of game engines has further enhanced the simulation and interactive functions of 3D GIS applications.
In this project, the exploration focused on using and integrating WebGL-based rendering tools to visualize large 3D city models, providing a portal where users can navigate and interact with urban scenarios from different perspectives. The architecture utilized 3DCityDB for tiling and format conversion of 3D models, 3D Web Client/Cesium.js virtual globe for loading large-scale tiled data, and Babylon.js to achieve interactive functions and environmental simulation. A GridMap mechanism was proposed to solve the problem of loading a large number of models with geographic coordinates in the Babylon scene. Test results show that this mechanism can maintain effective loading efficiency. Especially when the size of the dataset grows significantly, loading time and memory consumption will not increase, and FPS can also be maintained at a high level to ensure smooth interaction. This study expands the feasibility of applying 3D GIS data in web-based game engines through enhanced interactivity and simulation.
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Keywords
3D city models, web rendering, WebGL, Babylon.js, user interaction, 3D web client/Cesium