Using VRML as an interface to the 3D data warehouse

Coors, Volker; Jung, Volker

doi:10.1145/271897.279553

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The original design of web3D was a pull model [Coors 1998]: resources identified by a simple web3D file URL were pulled from the Web. Web3D has many scene nodes that use URLs, as well as the three URL based functions already described.…”

Section: Historical Journey Of Web3d External Interfacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recognition of the database access possibilities of web3D URL based functions lead to a number of applications and experiments that modified web3D worlds using remote queries to databases [Stoter and Zlatanova 2003;Zlatanova 1999;Coors 1998;Gahedan 1998]. Such methods were exemplified by Lipkin's [Lipkin 1998] recommended practices for VRML database access but remained with the stateless request-response pull-from-web model, like Zlatanova's use of Anchor for database queries.…”

Section: Historical Journey Of Web3d External Interfacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some used the EAI with Java script code in a highly specific client installation environment to enable their applications to dynamically access databases and other external processing over a network [Maranne and Vaucher 2003;Coors 1998]. It is also worth noting that others took a more proprietary approach by providing a mini Java 3D browser that downloaded with the 3D file, using their own format and protocol [Cult3d; Anfy3D; Contact 3D; Cortona Jet; Kaon].…”

Section: Historical Journey Of Web3d External Interfacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Exploiting an evolutionary accident in web3D communications to integrate application components

Thorne

2005

ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Web Program on - SIGGRAPH '05

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) ushered in a new era in computer graphics by providing the first international standard 3D format for the Web (web3D). Unfortunately, some who tried VRML applications found they did not work and naturally blamed the language. However, the problem often lay in the sensitivity to different client software environments of the programming interfaces used to extend VRML. In many cases, VRML applications had to be extended to include things VRML lacked, such as sophisticated user interface and interactivity, database access, multiuser support, security and system integration support. These important aspects of modern systems were added via a programming interface (PI), called the External Authoring Interface (EAI). The problem was that applications based on the EAI would not work reliably due to changes in the client environment by competitive commercial stakeholders, affecting things like the support for a required third party programming language. It is this problem that often lead to unsatisfactory user experiences, not VRML itself.Below the client battlefield radar, three small web3D functions accidentally evolved, in symbiosis with the Web, to provide an alternative integration method built on a simple but solid foundation: the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is the protocol from which the very fabric of the Web was woven. This paper presents methods to integrate web3D application components directly via HTTP. The three web3D functions are used in combination to implement a communication cycle that makes use of persistent state stored in web services. The approach uses open standards, is portable across platforms and resilient to changes in client environment. Applications based on this approach will work more reliably on disparate end user systems and enable developers to leverage increasingly sophisticated web advances. Overview of web3D architecture and interfacesTo aid understanding of how a web3D program communicates with other programs, the conceptual architecture of an application with a web3D component and external components is shown in Figure 1. A web3D program is called a browser because it is generally viewed as a 3D web browser. The browser interprets web3D files, multimedia files or streams and presents audio-visual content as an interactive world to the user. Generally, the browser retrieves files over the Internet using HTTP. A PI can be used to communicate events between the browser and external programs. A rendering Application Programmer Interface (API) shows the world on a display device.The EAI allowed external application components to interact with a VRML scene graph. It could thereby be used as a general integration mechanism to satisfy the disparate feature demands from applications, vendors and users alike. However, the following historical discussion reveals how problems with using the EAI developed under changes wrought by market forces over the past decade. The historical review identifies three web3D functions, which though unchan...

show abstract

Section: Historical Journey Of Web3d External Interfacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Historical Journey Of Web3d External Interfacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Historical Journey Of Web3d External Interfacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Exploiting an evolutionary accident in web3D communications to integrate application components

Thorne

2005

ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Web Program on - SIGGRAPH '05

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The VRML implementation of the 3D GIS will not merely limit the opening to the public of the processed results of the conventional GIS, but also will exhibit its true values for the first time by reviving the high interactivity which can be achieved by computational process on the WWW terminal side. Regarding related research, the following can be cited: the campus guide system which will react to the actions of users by various sensors attached to the objects while walking through the 3D space [2]; the systems which have realized original 3D navigation interface by cooperating with a programming language such as Java [3,4]; the systems cooperating with 3D space and database [6,7]; and the system integrating terrain data, GPS data, and satellite photographs [5]. These are new attempts directed toward the WWW-based 3D GIS incorporating VRML original functions, and research is being actively carried out at present.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An effective terrain model for web‐based 3D geographic information systems

Araya

Hyunsuk

Araya

2002

Electron Comm Jpn Pt II

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARYThe needs of three-dimensional implementation and WWW-based geographic information systems are increasing. In this paper, we propose a flexible and efficient VRML-based terrain model. In the proposed model, by placing side by side the terrain models (tiles) of fixed size in 3D space, the simplification of display range change, the utilization of a caring mechanism, and the attachment of an automatic changeover mechanism for the level of detail of the model will become possible. Each tile is modeled by combining multiple grid models, and the useless polygons in the sea and lakes are curtailed. Moreover, we propose an automatic changeover mechanism of the level of detail of the model, which regenerates the shape features of the terrain objects such as square and flat. Furthermore, for curtailing the transmitted data, we also propose a method for automatically generating simplified models from the detailed model on WWW terminal side. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed model is shown by 3D spatial navigation experiments using automatic viewpoint motion.

show abstract

“…Most communication still occurs using decades-old mechanisms such as electronic mail or chat programs. Even multi-party video conferencing and collaboration software (whiteboards and application-sharing) have had a limited effect [1,2,3,4]. Video conferencing with postage-stamp-sized images, low polygon-count 3D models, and strict limitations on the number of participants leave much to be desired.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%