GeoNext, the new Australian conference centred on the convergence of geospatial technologies and the web, has announced a new session, entitled “Web-based 3D visualisation for geospatial applications.”
Almost all mapping on the web is currently 2D and static. Despite what it looks like when you browse the web, the earth isn’t flat and time does move on! The surface of the earth has terrain, objects in the world have height and structure, and there are things under the ground and sea. One of the key reasons for mapping being largely 2D is that web browsers have not handled 3D graphics natively in a standard way. Of course, there are specialised browser plug-ins, such as Google Earth, but, previously, there was no standard way to provide similar functionality in an extensible and plugin-independent way. Now that WebGL (the JavaScipt API for rendering graphics) is standardised and supported by a growing number of browsers, there are many opportunities for new applications that make use of 3D mapping for both desktop and mobile systems.
In this talk, Bill Simpson-Young – director, engineering and technology development, NICTA – and Chris Cooper will present new software frameworks for extensible web-based 4D (3D+time) map visualisations. They will focus on the Cesium open source geobrowser and NICTA’s new Subspace framework that works with Cesium and supports a wide range of geospatial web-based applications.
Additionally, they’ll show applications developed using Subspace, including ones for tracking public transport, finding new sources of geothermal energy, modelling ground water reservoirs, monitoring of air pollution and lots more.
The updated program for GeoNext is available online at: http://www.geonext.com.au/program/.
For more information on, and registration for, GeoNext 2013, visit www.geonext.com.au.
