Theresa Marie Rhyne
Director at Large - ACM SIGGRAPH
EMAIL: rhyne@siggraph.org
Address:
Lockheed Martin Technical Services
US EPA Scientific Visualization Center
86 Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711
(919) 541 -0207
FAX: (919) 541 - 0056
Introduction:
In June 1996, a cross-organizational collaboration between the activities of the Assocation for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics (ACM SIGGRAPH) and the International Cartographic Association's (ICA) Commission on Visualization began. The "Carto Project" explores how viewpoints and techniques from the computer graphics community can be effectively applied to cartographic and spatial data sets. This includes exploring how viewpoints and methods from cartography can enhane developments in computer graphics, especially those associated with the representation of geographic phenonema. These efforts will continue into 1999, in conjunction with the time frame of the ICA's Commission on Visualization.
The Association for Computing Machinery (founded in 1947) is an international scientific and educational organization. ACM is dedicated to the art, science, engineering and application of information technology. It is frequently called "The First Society in Computing". Speical Interest Groups (SIGs) bring together clusters of ACM members with shared interest, needs, knowledge and experience in ways that further their oobjectives. ACM SIGGRAPH is focused on computer-generated graphics and interactive techniques. Each year, ACM SIGGRAPH holds an annual international conference which is the premiere event in computer graphics. SIGGRAPH 97 will be held in Los Angeles, California and over 40,000 people are expected to attend this event. MMore information on ACM SIGGRAPH can be found at (http://www.siggraph.org).
Computer Graphics & Cartography:
Using the World Wide Web (WWW), digital library technologies, software agent mechanisms, and high speed networking, government and business organizations (as well as the general public) will be able to access, retrieve, merge and analyze complex sets of geographically referenced information and data. Efforts are underway to establish international standards for indexing and managing geospatial data clearinghouses. The ACM SIGGRAPH Carto Project and the ICA Commission on Visualization have begun to explore how visualization can assist with data mining these repositories of cartographic and geographic information.
At the August 16 - 18, 1996 meeting of the ICA Commission on Visualization, in Delft, Netherlands, a specific research initiative relating to these issues was developed. This initiative is entitled: "Desktop Virtual Reality and Cartography -- Exploring the World in 3-D". Desktop Virtual Reality encompasses WWW tools such as the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) as well as other future directions in computer graphics hardware and software for commodity personal computers and workstations. The recent VRML 2.0 standard and research developments in desktop computer graphics architectures were announced at ACM SIGGRAPH's annual conference in New Orleans, August 4-9, 1996.
The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) is a recently created programming language and standard for building three-dimensional objects (often called "worlds") on the World Wide Web. For cartographers, this will allow for the creation of three-dimensional views of geographics maps and associated spatial data. These 3-D worlds are viewed on any computer with WWW browsers that support the VRML standard. The VRML standard was developed by its technical community which was directed by eight experts called the VRML Architecture Group (VAG). More informaition on VRML can be found at the VRML repository at the San Diego Supercomputer Center: (http://www.web3d.org/vrml/vrml.htm).
A Birds of a Feather at ACM SIGGRAPH 1997:
Work is now underway to prepare for an ACM SIGGRAPH 1997 Birds of a Feather session to discuss desktop virtual reality and cartography. The intent is to foster the interaction between developers and contributors to VRML and other interactive computer graphics techniques with cartographic and geographic professionals. ACM SIGGRAPH 1997 will be held in Los Angeles, California from August 3-8, 1997. An agenda for this SIGGRAPH 97 BOF will be presented and reviewed at the June 1997 meeting of the ICA's Commission on Visualization.
The ACM-SIGGRAPH Carto Project Director is Theresa Marie Rhyne. She can be reached via email at: (rhyne@siggraph.org). The Chair of the ICA Commission on Visualization is Alan M. MacEachren. He can be reached via email at: maceachren@psu.edu (or if necessary via fax at (814) 863-7943 or via regular mail at: Department of Geography, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA). The ICA Commission on Visualization's Co-chair, Menno-Jan Kraak, can be reached via email at (kraak@itc.nl). To return to the ICA Commission on Visualization's World Wide Web site:
