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How Can 3D Modeling and Visualization Be Used with Geospatial Technology?
country. Those countries with the highest raised prisms have the largest
number of persons (in this example, the map shows China and India with
huge populations relative to neighboring countries). The polygon shape of
each country is extruded relative to the number of units being measured. See
Hands-on Application 14.1: Creating Prism Maps Online for an online tool to
create prism maps with.
How Can 3D Modeling and Visualization Be
Used with Geospatial Technology?
There are numerous 3D design and modeling programs on the market today,
and many commercial geospatial programs offer some sort of capability of
visualizing or working with 3D data (and there’s no way this chapter can get
into all of them). For instance, Esri’s ArcGIS program contains the 3D Analyst extension, which enables numerous 3D features related to terrain and
modeling, but also two other interfaces for working with 3D data—ArcGlobe
and ArcScene. As its name implies, ArcGlobe allows for 3D visualization on a
“global” level. If you’re examining 3D surfaces and objects in Los Angeles, you
can fly north across the globe to view other 3D spatial data in San Francisco,
then continue north to look at the landscape in Seattle. ArcGlobe functions
similarly to a virtual globe program and works with all types of Esri file formats such as 3D shapefiles. ArcScene contains a full set of 3D-visualization
tools for ArcGIS and allows for the same type of 3D modeling, except on a
“local” scale. If you were modeling one section of a 3D Los Angeles, that’s the
extent of the data you’d be working with.
Google Earth also supports 3D visualization. Back in Geospatial Lab Application 1.1: Introduction to Geospatial Concepts and Google Earth, you examined a 3D representation of places in South Dakota. Google Earth also contains other 3D objects, such as representations of 3D buildings and structures
across the world (such as buildings in New York City, Boston, and other cities
ArcGlobe a 3D
visualization tool used
to display data in a
global environment,
which is part of Esri’s
ArcGIS program.
ArcScene the 3D
visualization and
design component of
Esri’s ArcGIS program.
The Thematic Mapping Engine (also used back
in Chapter 7) allows you to create prism maps
and display them using Google Earth. Open your
Web browser and go to http://thematicmapping.
org/ engine. Select an indicator that you want to
map (such as population, life expectancy, or mobile phone subscribers) and a year, and then select Prism for the technique. Press Preview to
see the results in your browser or Download
to open the prism map in Google Earth. Try several of the classification combinations to see
how they alter the raised prisms in the data.
Lastly, download a prism map of a dataset into
Google Earth along with a regular 2D thematic
map and examine them to see the difference in
visual communication that a prism map offers.
Hands-on Application 14.1
Creating Prism Maps Online
How Can 3D Modeling and Visualization Be Used with Geospatial Technology?
country. Those countries with the highest raised prisms have the largest
number of persons (in this example, the map shows China and India with
huge populations relative to neighboring countries). The polygon shape of
each country is extruded relative to the number of units being measured. See
Hands-on Application 14.1: Creating Prism Maps Online for an online tool to
create prism maps with.
How Can 3D Modeling and Visualization Be
Used with Geospatial Technology?
There are numerous 3D design and modeling programs on the market today,
and many commercial geospatial programs offer some sort of capability of
visualizing or working with 3D data (and there’s no way this chapter can get
into all of them). For instance, Esri’s ArcGIS program contains the 3D Analyst extension, which enables numerous 3D features related to terrain and
modeling, but also two other interfaces for working with 3D data—ArcGlobe
and ArcScene. As its name implies, ArcGlobe allows for 3D visualization on a
“global” level. If you’re examining 3D surfaces and objects in Los Angeles, you
can fly north across the globe to view other 3D spatial data in San Francisco,
then continue north to look at the landscape in Seattle. ArcGlobe functions
similarly to a virtual globe program and works with all types of Esri file formats such as 3D shapefiles. ArcScene contains a full set of 3D-visualization
tools for ArcGIS and allows for the same type of 3D modeling, except on a
“local” scale. If you were modeling one section of a 3D Los Angeles, that’s the
extent of the data you’d be working with.
Google Earth also supports 3D visualization. Back in Geospatial Lab Application 1.1: Introduction to Geospatial Concepts and Google Earth, you examined a 3D representation of places in South Dakota. Google Earth also contains other 3D objects, such as representations of 3D buildings and structures
across the world (such as buildings in New York City, Boston, and other cities
ArcGlobe a 3D
visualization tool used
to display data in a
global environment,
which is part of Esri’s
ArcGIS program.
ArcScene the 3D
visualization and
design component of
Esri’s ArcGIS program.
The Thematic Mapping Engine (also used back
in Chapter 7) allows you to create prism maps
and display them using Google Earth. Open your
Web browser and go to http://thematicmapping.
org/ engine. Select an indicator that you want to
map (such as population, life expectancy, or mobile phone subscribers) and a year, and then select Prism for the technique. Press Preview to
see the results in your browser or Download
to open the prism map in Google Earth. Try several of the classification combinations to see
how they alter the raised prisms in the data.
Lastly, download a prism map of a dataset into
Google Earth along with a regular 2D thematic
map and examine them to see the difference in
visual communication that a prism map offers.
Hands-on Application 14.1
Creating Prism Maps Online