GeoDec: A framework to visualize and query geospatial data for decision-making

Abstract

T here is a critical need for advanced geospatial decision-making tools for countless geospatial applications, such as urban planning, emergency response, military intelligence, simulator training, and serious gaming. With the abundance of available geospatial data-such as satellite and aerial imagery-the most effective approach to geospatial decision-making is through sophisticated virtualization. An ideal application designed to formulate and evaluate decision-making questions should contain realistic modeling, a host of geotagged and timestamped data sets, and efficient presentation of a basic set of spatiotemporal queries on top of the information-rich virtual geolocation. A three-part virtualization process like this could simulate, say, New York city and provide answers to complex questions in a completely virtual environment. For example, by embedding the road data, building data, elevation data, and microclimate data of New York, then using a combination of range queries, nearest-neighbor queries, and visibility queries, it would be possible to determine what windvector impact the Freedom Tower might have on south Manhattan.To be effective, such a decision-making technology must satisfy the requirements known as RAISE, which includes Realistic simulation, Accurate information fusion, Interactive query and access, Scalable infrastructure, and Efficient time-to-build. Considering RAISE, as our objective, we designed and developed an end-toend system dubbed GeoDec for geospatial decision-making. GeoDec blends several techniques developed independently in the fields of databases, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, and computer vision into a threetier architecture to facilitate the decisionmaking process. The system allows users to interact with a virtualized geolocation through a set of spatiotemporal queries to access layers of GIS data seamlessly integrated into GeoDec's database server.Current geospatial visualization systems fall into three main categories: Earth visualization (EV), game systems, and GIS. EV platforms, as envisioned by Al Gore, 1 include applications such as Microsoft Virtual Earth or Google Earth. These platforms display realistic 3D worlds created from aerial imagery. Game systems, such as Half-Life 2, render simulated urban environments realistically. Other examples include SimCity, a city-planning simulation, and Spore, an interactive world in which fictional data analysis is used to support the gameplay. The third category, GIS, includes Environmental Systems Research Institute (see http://www.esri.com) products, which offer query and analysis of static worlds. In addition, there are numerous research projects that use geospatial visualization. For example, UrbanSim focuses on socioeconomic modeling for city planning, 2 the GeoVISTA Center develops visualization tools for decision making (see http:// www.geovista.psu.edu), and the UCI Rescue (at the University of California, Irvine) targets crisis-response management. 3 Despite all of this, no single system that we are aware...

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