Examining Dynamically Linked Geographic Visualization

Theresa Marie Rhyne and Thomas Fowler
Lockheed Martin Technical Services
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711

Introduction

At the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), efforts are underway to integrate the agency's geographic information systems (GIS), scientific visualization (SciVis) and World Wide Web (WWW) suite of tools for comprehensive environmental decision support. The EPA's National GIS Program Office is the focal point of EPA's efforts to implement a consistent Agency-wide spatial data management infrastructure. One result of these efforts is the EPA Spatial Data Library System (ESDLS) which is currently accessible via the WWW (1). ESDLS utilizes the Environmental Systems Research Institute's (ESRI) ARC/INFO data management software (entitled Librarian) and complys with Spatial Data Transfer Standards. The ESDLS is EPA's node on the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse. (2)

During 1996, techniques for providing real time visualizations of spatial data sets for the ESDLS were explored. The EPA's Scientific Visualization Center, in collaboration with the agency's GIS support team, conducted initial evaluations of software that integrates visualization toolkits (i.e. the Application Visualization System (AVS)) and geographic information systems (i.e. ESRI's ARC/INFO). WWW user interfaces to GIS and SciVis file servers were also successfully implemented. This paper reports our efforts to provide
effective two and three dimensional visual displays of spatial data sets. Using World Wide Web tools, we also investigated the use of QuickTime Movies, Java applets, and the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) as techniques for enhancing the presentation and exploration of geographic visualizations. (3)

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