Spatial Information Platform with VWorld for Improving User Experience in Limited Web Environment

Abstract

VWorld Data Center (VDC), operated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of South of Korea, provides the latest high-quality spatial information of South Korea. VWorld data include aerial images, digital elevation models, 3D buildings, 3D bridges, roads, administrative information, etc. We present a 3D spatial information platform that uses VWorld data. This platform is based on the web browser environment and supports cross platform by complying with WebGL and web standards. The 3D-terrain tile structure has a quadtree-based detail level for high-resolution rendering. When rendering different tile levels or sizes simultaneously, abnormal gaps occur between the tiles. We propose the use of a specially shaped 3D terrain object model to minimize these gaps. This model can be used and verified using the service site of the WebGL-based VWorld spatial information platform. Our platform has a limited environment and runs in a web browser while requesting real-time spatial information data from VDC. VWorld data cannot be stored locally by policy. We improve the frame rate in such way that it can easily be used in a limited web browser environment or even a computing environment without a graphics processing unit. We intend to officially present the proposed method to the VDC and apply it. We expect our platform to be used for various web-based geospatial applications.