Using GIS Data to Build Informed Virtual Geographic Environments (IVGE)

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to automatically build ing Informed Virtual Geographic Environments (IVGE) using data provided by Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The obtained IVGE provides 2D and 3D geographic information for visualization and simulation purposes. Conventional VGE approaches are generally built upon a grid-based representation, raising the well-known problems of the lack of accuracy of the localized data and the difficulty to merge data with multiple semantics. On the contrary, our approach uses a topological model and provides an exact representation of GIS data, allowing an accurate geometrical exploitation. Moreover, our model can merge semantic information, even if spatially overlapping. In addition, the proposed IVGE contains spatial information which can be enhanced thanks to a geometric abstraction method. We illustrate this model with an application which automatically extracts the required data from standard GIS files and allows a user to navigate and retrieve information from the computed IVGE.