Visualization Techniques For 3D Urban Environments

MPhil Thesis Defence


Title: "Visualization Techniques For 3D Urban Environments"

By

Mr. Haomian Wang


Abstract

With the rapid development of 3D modeling and rendering technologies, it 
is now possible to model a whole city and put it online, which opens doors 
to many applications, especially for tourists to virtually explore a city 
and plan their tours. In this thesis, we propose two visualization 
techniques for 3D urban environments. We first present a 3D city map 
generation system that can turn 3D models of a city into a more 
informative layout in which the structure of the city, major roads, and 
landmark buildings will be better revealed over the context of a realistic 
3D environment. The system integrates principles having been used by 
artists for making 3D maps for centuries and automates the entire process 
with little user guidance. We then propose a novel interaction technique, 
called focus+context route zooming, which allows users to zoom into a 
route and its associated landmarks in a 3D urban environment from a 
45-degree bird's-eye view. Through the creative utilization of the empty 
space in an urban environment, our technique can informatively reveal the 
focus region and minimize distortions to the context buildings. Both 
techniques can be conveniently integrated into Google Earth and Virtual 
Earth to help users better explore a city and plan their tours. They can 
also be used in other applications such as information overlay to a 
virtual city.


Date:			Thursday, 25 June 2009

Time:			3:00pm-5:00pm

Venue:			Room 3501
 			Lifts 25-26

Committee Members:	Dr. Huamin Qu (Supervisor)
 			Dr. Chiew-Lan Tai (Chairperson)
 			Prof. Long Quan


**** ALL are Welcome ****