3D Surface Representation and Manipulation Scheme for Web-based 3D Geo-Processing

For given 3D geographic data which is usually of DEM(Data Elevation Model) format, we have to represent and manipulate the data in various ways. For example, we have to draw a part of them in drawing canvas. To do this we give users a way of selecting area they want to visualize. And we have to give a base tool for users to select the local area which can be chosen for some geographic operation. In this paper, we propose a 3D data processing method for representation and manipulation. The method utilizes the major properties of DEM and TIN(Triangular Irregular Network), respectively. Furthermore, by approximating DEM with a TIN of an appropriate resolution, we can support a fast and realistic surface modeling. We implement the structure with the following 4 level stages. The first is an optimal resolution of DEM which represent all of wide range of geographic data. The second is the full resolution DEM which is a subarea of original data generated by user's selection in our implemeatation. The third is the TIN approximation of this data with a proper resolution determined by the relative position with the camera. And the last step is multi-resolution TIN data whose resolution is dynamically decided by considering which direction user take notice currently. Specialty, the TIN of the last step is designed for realtime camera navigation. By using the structure we implemented realtime surface clipping, efficient approximation of height field and the locally detailed surface LOD(Level of Detail). We used the initial 10-meter sampling DEM data of Seoul, KOREA and implement the structure to the 3D Virtual GIS based on the Internet.