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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | RE: GISList: Visualisation and Simulation |
| Date: |
02/13/2002 07:37:18 AM |
| From: |
BBitters1 .. aol.com |
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Graeme and Group,
I have been and will continue to try to get the GIS
community to move from basic visualization to full-
fledged real-time simulation. However, every time
I give my pitch, most folks say they do not have
the budget of Ministries of Defense, NASA, or
Hollywood and cannot afford real-time simulation.
A few of us know that this is no longer the case.
Realtime simulation using GIS data in conjunction
with elevation data and very high-resolution imagery
is now available on low cost PC platforms. An
off-the-shelf single (double is better) processor
PC (1.5 GHz or better) with a RAM upgrade
(1 GByte or more per processor), and a NVIDIA
GForce 3 Graphics Card costs less than $1500 (US).
This will allow fly-thrus of very detailed databases
at 30 to 60 Hertz - better frame rates than a TV.
Viewing software can be free (CG2 Audition) or very
expensive. Database creation software ranges from
fairly inexpensive to astronomical, and often the
vendors are not making the software really intuitive
for the non-database engineer mentality.
However, the biggest drawback to exploiting real-time
simulation seems to be the experience factor. Very
few folks outside NASA, the military, or Hollywood
have any expertise at creating realtime databases.
And as long as the vendors supply 50 page user's
manuals with their databasing software when the
manuals should be 200 pages, I do not see changes
coming soon...
There is one other dilemma in the GIS arena that must
first be breached. Many times in GIS, those features of
interest are not the tangible features we see on the
ground. Often GIS is interested in intangible objects
and phenomena - things that occur or objects hidden from
sight. Law enforcement GIS is interested in crime
incidents. The naturalist is interested in ecosystems
and animal movements. In these examples and in
many other fields that are implementing GIS, they
still cannot adequately display their information in
2D let alone trying to take the big hurtle into the
3D domain.
Now I think that 3D display of GIS data is a wide
open field and has plenty of promise. But I have
been in this field for many years and have a fairly
good grasp of the technology. I have been working
on the modeling side of the realtime GIS situation
and hope to give a really dynamic demonstration
at the ESRI User's Conference this summer.
If any of you are interested, come see the richness
of GIS data displayed in realtime simulation. You
will not be satisfied with just visualization.
Best regards,
Barry
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Barry Bitters
Dept. Environ. Studies phone: (850) 936-1060
University of West Florida fax: (850) 936-1060
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, Florida 32514 bbitters@uwf.edu
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