-
from
DeLorme, around $100 per U.S. state for 6 CDROMs or 1 DVD - consists of the normal USGS DRGs, optionally draped on rather low-resolution elevation
- you can only view one quad at a time, rather than flying seamlessly over the whole state
- appears to use Direct3D: "3D map view not supported on Windows NT"
- can network with GPS and PDA units
- related DeLorme product Topo USA® 4.0 ($70) does only non-realtime rendering, but adds some impressive capabilities such as rendering trees on the green areas of the DRGs
- suite of software, for Windows, including assembling scenes and a runtime engine
- pricing depends on application
- reads elevation from "all kinds of ASCII format", model from 3DS, images from TIFF/BMP/JPG
- the focus is on applications like engineering, architecture, civil defense, emergency management, impact studies
- they also distribute, for all Italian territory, Orthophoto, Aerials and DTM ready for use in the software
-
"3D
Worlds" from Italian company
GeoMind, spun off
from Infmedia in 2004 - their technology takes elevation, imagery and 3D models as input, and produces scenes which are viewed in Macromedia Shockwave
- primarily intended for service work, not as a product for sale
- an option exists to use server-side rendering (!) where the 3D frames are sent down as a series of JPEG images
- their shockwave demos exhibit smooth but awkward navigation: the lack
of speed control were somewhat frustrating, and strict "minimum height"
and prevention of window resizing felt very constraining
- update 2003: they have fixed gimble lock on mouse rotation, and minimum height now bounces rather than sticking, so navigation is better
- still they 'do not allow window resizing because the reallocation [..] can cause some problem on machines with less RAM.' which seems reasonable for low-end system support
- $20 Windows program
- as described on their Landscapes page, it can import some grid formats (Scenery Animator, VistaPro, 1-degree DEM and GTOPO30) and export to a traditional 3D modeller format (around 20 formats)
ArcView
with
3D Analyst- $1000 + $2500 from ESRI
- purchased it and did a detailed evaluation
- summary: many problems and limitations, not recommended for virtual terrain work
- the latest incarnation of this software, for the Arc 8.x product line, is called ArcGIS 3D Analyst, which consists primarily of an 3D application called ArcScene; surely much improved since the old 3D Analyst, it should be reviewed
- two products from Sjöland&Thyselius Virtual Reality Systems AB (STVRS) of Sweden
- Blueberry3D Terrain Editor ($quote) is a plugin for MultiGen-Paradigm's
Creator Terrain Studio,
which
can be used to add procedural detail to existing scenery, within the context
of standard FLT files- includes a map editor for designing terrain, reads ESRI binary/ASCII grids, DEM, DTED, SHP, GeoTIFF and many image formats
- Blueberry3D Development Environment ($quote) is a plugin for MultiGen-Paradigm's Vega Prime, which allows procedural detail to be created at runtime
- email them for price requests, "price will vary depending on location and distributor"
- previous features of the Blueberry3D project (see the Evaluation of Blueberry Realtime Viewer as of 2001) including realtime shadows and photorealistic movie rendering, were apparently dropped in 2002 in favor of working closer to Vis-sim standards
- BS Contact Geo is €800 from Bitmanagement Software GmbH, or less for more licenses.
- A web plugin viewer that supports BS's special extended-X3D/VRML file format, which handles geospatial scenes
- The custom, proprietary extensions to X3D/VRML claim to be extensive and powerful: BSTile, BSMap, and GeoSphere provide multi-threaded whole-earth paging with overlaid vectors. See: GeoNodes (pdf)
- $15,000 from Aechelon Technology, Inc.
- toolset for editing, creation and management of scene databases, specifically for their C-Nova runtime environment
- C-Genesis runs in IRIX, Linux and Windows; the image generator (C-Nova) platform is currently SGI
- the company also sells a model library and image library
-
$19,000
from PixelActive Inc., for Windows, includes a year of email support.
Requires a graphics card with shader
model 3.0. - An interactive tool to draw heightfields and water, place roads and buildings and trees.
- Very smooth and easy to use, with spline roads that deform the landscape in realtime, pretty water and shadow rendering, 3d tree models, power lines, and even traffic flow models on the roads.
- Apparently meant for game developers to quickly create large scenes, with Collada export as the art path.
- Has some "support for importing GIS data, allowing geospecific modeling of real world locations", with a demo of imported elevation from NED and roads from SHP.
- With version 1.8, it can import from OpenStreetMap and import/export FBX, PTF, FLT, DAE
CitySurf- product of Turkish company 'Piri Reis Bilişim Tek. Müh.Yazılım Eğtim Tic. Ltd.'
- very impressive free OpenGL-based viewer, which connects to servers for streaming of content: elevation, imagery, road outlines, 3D buildings, points of interest, etc.
- like Google Earth, but even faster, smoother navigation
- consists of a server, a standalone viewer, and an ActiveX client
- quite mature, reportedly in development since 2004
- apparently there are powerful GIS-like features for queries and visibility analysis, although i wasn't able to try them as the application is in Turkish language only
- SiteBuilder 3D is one component of the CommunityViz suite of software ($750 from Placeways LLC)
- provides a real-time 3D environment for creating and manipulating a virtual representation of a town and visually exploring different land-use alternatives
- includes a model library of over 350 models of houses, buildings, trees, and streetscapes
- integrates with the ESRI ArcGIS product line, with all data coming from ArcView layers
- "Sharable 3D Scenes" feature (presumably, some kind of exporter plus standalone viewer) lets you share scenes with other people
- development was begun by the Orton Family Foundation, before transferring to Placeways
- this is the same program as MultiGen's SiteBuilder 3D (see below)
- High-end, around $10,000 (as of 2000) from Presagis (was MultiGen-Paradigm)
- Most of the terrain functionality is in optional extensions: Creator Terrain Studio, Airports, Buildings, Road Tools
- advantages
- creates an optimized triangulation (Delaunay) for each patch
- builds a regular quadtree, yet maintains edge coherence
- disadvantages
- can't join more than one source DEM
- at highest detail, it still doesn't use the raw data points
- artifacts are produced by their LOD edge coherence approach
- very expensive
Cruiser- suite of terrain visualization software, proprietary server and client, from Greek company Talent
- the client is Java-based and theoretically is portable, although as of June 2006 it was only available for Windows
- you don't buy the software, instead you hire them to assemble and host your content as a "channel", so the price can vary greatly depending on what you want to host
- the client has a typical 3D navigation interface, not unlike World Wind, etc.
- their demo content (only content existing as of June 2006) was Greece on-line, whose interactivity consists of the usual flight, toggling of layers, measuring distances, lightweight 2D features
EarthVision
- $? from Dynamic Graphics, Inc.
- for building 3D models of underground data; primarily used by the petroleum industry
- uses OpenGL, runs on Unix, Windows NT, and Linux
- not clear if it's realtime 3D or not; '3-D Viewer' is a extra-cost module
- from E&S, high-end packages for producing "large-area simulation databases", i.e. terrain for Vis Sim
- Integrator (NT-only)
- "integrates database elements from a wide variety of sources into rich 3-D synthetic environments"
- can bring in terrain models from MultiGen II Pro/NT or 3DS MAX
- geographic data is preprocessed in GeoBuilder 2D, an ESRI ARC/INFO based tool
- aerial photographs and satellite images are processed with SOCET SET from GDE Systems
- EaSIEST (NT and Unix)
- seems to be combination of MultiGen's Creator 3D, Arc/Info GIS from ESRI, and PhotoShop
- seems to target a lower-end market than Integrator
- how these packages fit together is not entirely clear
-
Ecomodeler
is Can$6000 from Viewscape3D,
Can$150 for a 90-day eval - Ecoviewer is the realtime viewer component of their software, which can be distributed freely; the purpose of Ecomodeler is to process raw data to produce scenes for Ecoviewer
- the products are forestry-oriented ("automated tool for silviculture and logging plans")
- imports ESRI GIS formats, includes large tree library, allows realtime editing
- GeoData Editor is the DEM editing component of Ecomodeler, which can be purchased standalone for Can$250: supports ESRI formats, DEM, DTED, Surfer, PGM, WCS formats, DTM, and both read and write support for BT
- not exactly a terrain software tool - more of a tourism application, as they say, "a Zen like and ecological form of entertainment"
- see review on Tourism page
- $4775, available for NT and several other platforms
- integrated vector processing and GIS analysis tools
- does not support LULC
- claims to do real-time 3-D surface generation and fly-through
- runs on top of IDL, a "4GL" application development package for data analysis and visualization
- the "3D Surface View" uses the IDL object graphics interface; if running on a platform that supports OpenGL, and it is installed, then OpenGL is the rendering engine, otherwise Mesa is used.
- from Equipe Electronics Ltd., UK
- toolset for "rapidly creating large area Geo-Specific terrain models"
- processes raw data source, including very large textures, to produce a FLT model
- "Autopopulation" feature claims to recognize trees, woodlands and buildings in aerial photos, and places 3D models accordingly
- runs on Linux and SGI Irix, price depends upon platform, application, license requirements
- commercial, for SUN/SGI/Linux/Windows, from IVS (New Brunswick, Canada)
- focuses on scientific visualization (geology, hydrography, bathymetry)
- supports DEM/DTED as well as volumetric, contour, line segment, seismic etc. data
- they have a free viewer iView3D for Fledermaus datasets, which basically lets you rotate, pan and zoom
- for Windows/Linux from Balfour Technologies LLC, a small consulting firm in Bethpage, NY
- a browser/server combination which claims "four-dimensional" data, which apparently means that it stores a time component for animated objects
- the browser component is $80
- oriented towards use in AEC, real estate, transportation applications, and has many examples of use in these fields including working with the NY State Dept. of Transportation and the TRANSIMS project
- it appears oriented toward contract services with Balfour, rather than as a standalone product
- a terrain viewer (G-Vista), scene graph editor (G-Scene), and rendering library (G-Render) from G-Graphix (Germany)
- no fixed price; sold by special arrangement with each customer
- features CLOD, streaming of huge terrain datasets, integration of 2D features and 3D models
- support both OpenGL and D3D
- uses its own ".g3d" file format
- Windows-only, primary usage of the runtime is as an ActiveX control
-
$100
from UK company Geomantics "The
Landscape Visualization People" - includes MapInfo and ArcView interfaces, so it can do some 3D GIS things
- grid-based, limited to 1201x1201 points
- can import multiple elevation files, but user must do manual coordinate alignment
- so-so image quality (not comparable to other, more expensive, non-realtime renderers)
- will texture-map terrain, but no tools for aligning imagery
- "fractalization" feature can add decent artificial detail
- planet-rendering technology of Paul Hansen, available for custom solutions
- includes includes a full earth model, continuous LOD, paging of high-resolution texture and elevation, and draping of vectors
- a set of utilities that run within Bentley MicroStation
- includes GEOPAK Road, GEOPAK Site, and GeoTerrain ($2000), which have extensive tools for shaping and editing terrain, placing roads and buildings
- a set of products, for Windows, from company GeoVirtual in Barcelona, Spain
- GeoShow3D Lite is a free viewer for their format (.gs files)
- GeoShow3D Client and GeoShow3D Pro add capabilities including editing and creation of new terrain scenes
- they are flexible about non-commercial use of their commercial products
- uses an adapted ROAM algorithm for the 3D model of the terrain, a disk-paged quad-tree approach for textures, and high compression for reading online scenery
- Earth viewer, from global down to local scale, streams data via internet
- claims a large list of features: maps, transportation, weather, demographics, history, location based services, local search, driving directions, place finder, proximity analyzer, measuring, analysis, etc.
- "supports XML and OpenGIS etc industry standards"
- the site gives no indication at all of how the product might be sold or licensed
- December 2005, they were bought by Microsoft
GeoViz
LIGHT and GeoViz Server- GeoViz LIGHT consists of two components
- GeoViz 3DMap Generator plug-in to ArcView 3.X
- GeoViz 3DMapView plug-in for IE5 (free)
- GeoViz Server provides Peer-to-Peer and "Web Centric C4ISR Collaboration" with a "Cached Mapster Architecture"
- pricing unknown
-
a
cross-platform 3D engine from Saab
Training Systems AB - closed-source but with very flexible licensing, esp. non-commercial use is free; commercial use is $1000 per license
- does CLOD terrain with IRMA (Improved RoaM Algorithm), or with multithreaded paging of static terrain, e.g. in the Terrapage format
- besides the terrain functionality, it is a full-featured scene graph library with some advanced features: full support for hierarchical GLSL shaders, physics integration with Meqon physics library, easy integration with MacOSX/QT/X11/wxWindows, distributed network graphic objects
- the amazing Swiss-army knife of geospatial data, for Windows
- free for use as a 2D/3D data viewer, or commercial ($220) with conversion and some editing capabilities
- supports a very large number of formats, including: DLG, DRG, DEM, DOQ, SDTS DLG/DEM, LULC, GTOPO30, Shapefiles, GNIS, DXF, BIL/BSQ/BIP, ArcInfo formats, GeoTIFF, SDTS, CDED, image formats with world files, DXF, Surfer Grid, MrSID, ECW, ERDAS Imagine, DTED, MapInfo MIF/TAB, Terragen, DGN, SRTM, TIGER, ADRG, CADRG, VPF/VMAP, S-57, GPS waypoint/track formats, more!
- opens files directly from archived files (.gz, .tar.gz, .zip)
- automatically clips the collar for DRGs, and better yet, gives direct access the TerraServer database to download seamless DRGs and other USGS data
- sophisticated vector display, e.g. roads with width and map symbols
- suite of Windows applications from Google Inc.
- A server and client for for a vast proprietary geospatial content database, including licensed data from many providers
- Google Earth is the client
- $400 for standard version, alternately a free version is available with limited functionality
- on 2005.11.12, reviewed the free version here: Google Earth 3.0 Evaluation
- The server was an important part of the product line when it was known as Keyhole EarthViewer 3D / Keyhole EarthServer. However, since Keyhole was bought by Google, there does not seem to be any mention of the server on Google's site.
- An open-source solution (with commercial support from lat/lon GmbH) for administration of digital city models, terrain models and corresponding textures, built on the deegree Java open-source GIS/SDI platform.
- "The base of deegree iGeo3D is CityFeatureStore, a 3D database schema for 3D city models that can be implemented in different database systems. CityFeatureStore is accessed using deegree Web Feature Service which supports CityGML. deegree Web Terrain Service and the 3D-module of iGeoportal also allows to visualize building and terrain models."
- simple DEM viewer for Windows, $200 from MS MacroSystem, Netherlands
- can draw contours, supports stereo rendering
- uses GDAL to support a large number of heightfield formats
Imagine
VirtualGIS- $$$ from ERDAS
- Imagine is a high-end GIS package, now on Windows with a realtime 3D option
- over 90 different raster and vector formats
- a reviewer said "while moving around, the different resolution sectors were visible, as there is a sudden change from low resolution to high resolution"
- $? from Supresoft (Hong Kong)
- claims "GIS 3D visualization, 3D environment modeling, true 3D landscape reconstruction, virtual reality, real time roaming for huge amount of data etc."
- options include MagiXity for city modelling and IMAGIS 3DBrowser, some sort of standalone viewer
- reportedly, they have a strong following in China and Japan
-
a
.NET control for developers to add 3D visualization to existing
application, e.g. aerospace and GIS - free for non-commercial use
- can display lines, great arcs, rhumb lines, points, markers, surface polygons, images, text, COLLADA 3D models, 2D screen overlays, video and more
- has rigorous astrodynamics for e.g. planets' shapes, orbits,
attitudes, and rotations, the position of the Sun
- $? from IT Spatial , "The 3D GIS Company"
- a set of 3 products: InterSCOPE Enterprise Server, InterSCOPE Analyst, InterSCOPE Viewer
- the Analyst and Viewer modules communicate with the Server via "secure web services"
- intended applications: Security Planning, Assessment, & Training, Command Center Operations, Urban & Transportation Planning
- a GIS-oriented 3D terrain package from Data Interface Technologies, New Zealand
- pricing: ?
- runs on both Windows and SGI, including multiprocessor/multipipe support
- the main app is a tool for "modeling, manipulation and analysis of 2D/3D GIS data and 3D CAD data within a Virtual Reality environment" with a impressive list of features including realtime shadow analysis
- connects directly to SDE (Spatial Database Engine) and Oracle Spatial 8i/9i
- reads numerous formats including SHP, Arc/Info ASCII/Binary Grids, DTED, Socet Set, and many 3D model formats
- stereo rendering, VR hardware support, SQL queries, 3D sound, road planning (!)
- built on the WorldToolKit library by Sense8
- a set of several CAD tools for modelling terrain, road and buildings from Eagle Point
- some are standalone, others are made to run within AutoCAD or MicroStation
- Surface Modeling ($600): creates TIN terrain meshes
- Visual Landscaping [gone?] ($1200): includes fences and walls, with a database of 1,100 plants, trees, shrubs
- Plant Database ($300) is the 1,100 plants by themselves
- Virtual Simulator ($300) is a runtime simulation environment, is it still offered?
- a suite of terrain products, built on Windows and OpenGL, from RIS (Rapid Imaging Software)
- LandForm/Gold ($500) is a no-nonsense terrain overlay assembler and
viewer (DEM, GeoTIFF)
- drape and fly-over, export to VRML
- can stitch together model and map files from multiple adjacent areas
- import, store and play back waypoints
- LandForm/C3 ($1000) adds some additional file formats (e.g. DTED, CADRG)
- LandForm
TerrainServer
[pdf] ($25,000)
- "receives requests for a region of interest, checks on the availability of the data, assembles the terrain model including overlay imagery, topography, and entities and then ships the model to the client application."
- $50 from Geomantics, Windows, free for limited non-commercial use
- a very simple viewer for a single DEM (NTF, PGM, ASC), optionally with an overlaid image
- terrain is drawn as points when adjusting the camera, so it's only partially "realtime"
LandSIM3D- €7500 from Bionatics (France)
- Complete package to import GIS data and model, construct a 3D scene, visualize and create presentations.
- In addition to the usual elevation and imagery inputs, it supports procedural construction of trees, linear features like roads/rivers/railways/powerlines.
- Procedural ground detail including rocks, and fairly realistic vegetation with automated distribution
- Scenarios and a time feature, to show the scene at different times, or a planning scene with project alternatives.
- Tried the Saint-Privat demo on 2009-03-24. Good: It is an impressive complex scene. It runs smoothly at a high framerate. The procedural ground detail looks good. Bad: The plant billboards are unrealistic, very dark and blocky, although this is partially compensated by having a large number of species. It consumes a surprising 1.2 GB of RAM to run, at 100% CPU even when minimized. There is no interaction to the demo besides flying around.
-
€500
from 3D Geo GmbH for the LandXplorer Studio application; server and SDK
options are separate - realtime flyover and interaction with both physical and abstract terrain data
- does draping of multiple textures, runtime LOD for both elevation and textures, and automatic recording of video sequences
- built on top of MAM/VRS, an object-oriented C++ 3D graphics library project of German academics, primarily Jurgen Döllner
- Modeling and Animation Machine (MAM) is the scene graph API
- Virtual Rendering System (VRS) is the lower-level rendering API
- related academic papers, postscript files available
on their site:
- J. Döllner, K. Hinrichs: Geo-Visualization with the 3D Modeling and Animation Machine. IEEE Proceedings Computer Graphics International, 1998
- K. Baumann, J. Döllner, K. Hinrichs, O. Kersting: A Hybrid, Hierarchical Data Structure for Real-Time Terrain Visualization, IEEE Computer Graphics International '99, 85-92, 1999
- J. Döllner, K. Hinrichs: An Object-Oriented Approach for Integrating 3D Visualization Systems and GIS, in print, Computers & Geosciences, Elsvier, 1999
- G. Buziek, J. Döllner: Concept and Implementation of an Interactive, Cartographic Virtual Reality System. International Cartographic Conference, Ottawa, 1999
- a new (as of 2006) suite of software for "sharing, via the web and streaming, terabytes of spatial information in a 3D environment."
- it is a suite of 6 different applications, Virtual Explorer Architect for scene construction, Client and Pro Client for viewing and manipulating, DVD and Server options for distributing data, Collaboration for multi-user manipulation
- the feature for Architect is very long: read just about all raster and vector formats, 3D models from MAX and FLT, flexible navigation, animation and scripting, create culture interactively, LOD control, database queries, geocoding, visibility analysis, measure distances and slopes, and much more
- prices depend entirely on how the technology is configured and used
- their initial demonstration dataset is Calgary, Canada
Leveller
- $150 from Daylon Graphics
- easy-to-use terrain/heightfield/bumpmap modeler for Windows
- many, many editing features - like a paint program for heightfields
- imports from bitmaps, NTF, SDTS, DEM, raw binary and some GIS formats
- imports/exports to TerraGen, BT, more
- exports to several 3D formats
- £500 per year from McCarthy
Taylor (UK)
- marketed to the application of virtual terrain called DTM - "Digital Terrain Modelling", which focuses on small areas (single plots of land) and deals heavily with contour lines and earth-modifying operations
- visualization includes draping imagery and realtime flythroughs
- uses: "Land Surveying - Road Building - Construction - Civil Engineering - Earth Moving - Mining - Waste Management - Dredging - Accident Investigation - Environmental Management - Archaeology - Geology - Visual and Environmental Impact"
- expensive, high-end urban modelling software, plus data for Japanese cities
- produced by three Japanese companies:
- PASCO is a GIS/LIDAR company providing aerial datasets
- CAD Center is a large 3D production house, providing automated building construction and texture library
- iPC is a GIS data / car navigation company, with data such as building footprints
- Review by Michael Flaxman, July 2003
- the product itself is somewhat confusing, with different terminology on each company's site: called variously MAP CUBE, Urban Viewer, and Cyber City Map
- $300 from Digital Wisdom
- creates simple relief maps in both 2D and 3D
- imports USGS DEM, SDTS DEM, Landform Panorama NTF
- textures can be draped over height data, but the sample images don't show this
- uses OpenGL, but not for realtime rendering (?)
- $90 from Natural Graphics, Mac/Win32
- non-realtime landscape renderer, can create QuickTimeVR panoramas
- imports DEMs, SDTS, and GTOPO30, can drape DRGs
- cheap, but not as impressive output as the more expensive landscape renderers
Natural
Worlds Terrain Manager
- from Nineteenseventyfive (South Africa)
- advanced terrain runtime includes continuous LOD, terrain and texture paging
- very portable (Windows, Linux, consoles, etc.)
- uses a combination of custom tools and ER Mapper ($5k) for database development
- $500 from RSI - Research Systems Inc.
- works extensively with HDF files (Hierarchical Data Format)
- primarily for "easy access to large quantities of technical, multidimensional data"
- terrain capabilities are still fairly minimal, but improving
- $? from Vianova Systems Finland Oy / Novapoint (alternate product page), developed by Viasys Oy
- An add-on tool for AutoCAD-based applications for creating terrain scenes and distributing them with a viewer, including an ActiveX viewer for web distribution
- Requires and extends AutoCAD and Autodesk MAP. As an example of its CAD focus, importing of elevation such as DEM is done by first converting it to AutoCAD '3D Face' elements(!)
- The ActiveX viewer is quite nice, with smooth rendering and good camera control, although it has a strange habit of aggressively culling on-screen objects.
- pricing is mysterious; there is nothing in English online about how it might be purchased
RealSite
/ InReality
- high-end tools from Harris Corp. for creating city models and doing visualization and simple analysis
- appears to be mostly intended for the wireless antenna placement market
- InReality (runtime)
- $3500 for Win32, $4500 for Irix
- has features like "Mensuration" which allow the user to interactively measure between any two points and get the current distance and location
- RealSite (urban model builder)
- provided on a variable-cost service basis, not a standard product
- claims to input: "NIMA standards, COTS CAD and geospatial tools"
- claims to output: Inventor, FLT, VRML, SEDRIS, Shapefiles
- can (semi-)automatically produce texture maps for the building geometry
- At the release of Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D in November 2006, RealSite was revealed to be the source of VE3D's building models.
- Terrain modeling plugin for non-realtime rendering package Rhino 4.0
- Typical price $660, or $128 educational
- Input can be "points, pointclouds, curves, meshes" and apparently USGS DEM
- Triangulates the input, supports breaklines
- "Geographical Feature Detection" identifies areas such as water surfaces,
apparently by their normals
- $500 for Windows from My3D LLC, which also provides a lot of consulting services
- Converts raw engineering data (DWG/DXF/GIS) data to very nice 3D road models
- Generates road models using LODs for improved performance, and supports placement of periodic and unique features such as light posts, signs, and hyperlinks
- Output is FLT or VRML
-
STK from Analytical Graphics (AGI)
comes in three levels: Basic (free), Professional, and Expert, with many
optional Add-On Modules - displays realistic 3D views of "space, airborne and terrestrial assets, sensor projections, orbit trajectories and assorted visual cues and analysis aids"
- pricing ranges greatly based on options ($700 up to $80k), with good deals for academic/noncommercial users
- a set of 3D scientific visualization software which includes capabilities for realtime elevation rendering
- supports labels, contours, animation output, stereo display, and a very large number of formats via GDAL
- $200, and they are happy to provide custom features upon request
- a software suite from SIMmersion of Australia, with an office in the USA
- $4,125/yr, or less if only part of the software is needed
- consists of three applications (World Generator, Environment Editor, World Simulator) for the complete process from input data to visualization
- format support is modest (just DXF for elevation) but the runtime claims impressive scaling, "a single built environment can be over 1000 sq. km, smooth rendering of over 5 million polygons."
- the company also provides 3D modelling, development and consulting services
- they have the major data provider GetMapping as a business partner
- $2000 from MultiGen-Paradigm
- this is the same program as the component of the same name in the CommunityViz software
- MultiGen sells it standalone with less of a planning focus
- see above under CommunityViz
- €2000 for their Builder, with a free Viewer, from French company SPACEYES
- multi-layered rendering, with both raster and vector GIS layers draped on the terrain
- directly imports elevation grids from DEM (GeoTiff, MapInfo ASCII grid), ortho-images from GeoTiff, ECW, etc. and GIS vector from Shape, Mapinfo, etc.
- OpenGL-based rendered, adapted ROAM (adaptive quadtree) algorithm for the 3D model, memory-paged approach for texture
- capability to add 3D models (3DS, VRML), text labels, image and icons, and to digitize vector features in the model
- AVI movies, high-resolution screen shots and 360° panoramic views
- the free Viewer has some features to compute thematic maps from elevation (shaded relief, slope map, aspect map, colored relief, contour lines) utilizing GDAL
- software toolkit for embedding geographic presentations into applications
- developed and used by Swedish company Carmenta, mainly in contract applications for the Scandinavian market, but also licensed to others
- integrated 2D/3D with real-time view
- fly-throughs with dynamic load of data from disk, interaction and picking
- procedural construction of buildings from footprint data
- Win32-based, uses OpenGL, supports COM/ActiveX and script interfaces
- reads : GRUK, VPF, MapInfo, ESRI shape, DFAD, ARINC, DTED, USGS DEM, TIFF, GeoTIFF, ECW
- suite of technologies from Skyline Software - TerraDeveloper, TerraBuilder, TerraExplorer
- licensing is around $15k for the SDK, $50k for Builder, and $2k/seat for the pro runtime (includes tools), free runtime
- uses a DirectX-based renderer with support for "3D clouds"
- claims to have no limitations on terrain or texture resolution
- very weird technical claims - supposedly "the terrain is rendered using a ray tracing algorithm and so the 3D acceleration has no effect." !!
- TerraBuilder imports elevation from .bmp, .mpt, .mpu, .grw, .raw
- part of the Terramodel and HYDROpro Terramodel product lines ($$) from Trimble
- the products do the full range of DTM operations from gathering points through creating models; the visualization aspect is a small part of the whole
- basic Terramodel with simple 3D functionality is included with the purchase of Trimble GPS or TotalStation hardware; additional modules with DTM features can put the total cost anywhere from $1000 to $15000; most users will only need a few of these modules
- around $23k from TerraSim, Inc.
- supports Irix and Win32
- services-oriented company, focusing on accuracy rather than realistic appearance
- imports from DEM, DTED, DLG, LULC, DOQ, more
- creates TIN meshes with integrated roads
- from Refractions Research, who comes from the web map server field
- price unknown, as they don't actually sell it, but rather license through partner Geocortex
- apparently works as middleware, by taking imagery from an existing map server (e.g. ArcIMS or an OGC WMS) and rendering it in 3D, then sending that image down to the client browser
- because of this approach, requirements on the client are minimal, but of course it is awkwardly non-realtime
- "3D real-time solution for visualizing high-res 3D terrain data interactively", for Windows, from ViewTec Ltd. (was Swiss, now USA)
- Product is TerrainView-Globe ($900-$5625), with add-on modules RemoteControl ($4500), CMAX ($2250), Video ($2250), Web (free), and view-only apps TerrainView ($750), TerrainView-Lite (free)
- does terrain LOD (Terrex Inc. SmartMesh)
- can import all common elevation, raster, vector, and 3D model formats
- interaction includes querying the terrain, manipulating culture objects, labeling points of interest, defining flight paths, recording to AVI, and much more
- they also offer "a commercial internet streaming service of high resolution digital 3D databases covering different countries"
- with the Web add-on, content can be read directly from the web, and the viewer is available as an OCX
- On 2004.05.18, did a brief evaluation of the TerrainView demo
TerraShader /
TerraTracer- a set of plugins for non-realtime terrain rendering with support for large imagery
- plugin available for LightWave, with plugins for Maya and 3DS MAX in beta
- $4200 commercial / $3600 educational, $400/year support
- the company also does service work to do the terrain scene construction and rendering themselves
- they read ECW (ER Mapper's wavelet format) in order to handle huge textures
- around $15k (as of 2000) from Presagis (was Terrex, Terrain Experts Inc.)
- high-end software for generating terrain intended for realtime rendering
- "revolutionary SmartMesh™ (patent pending) technology which surpasses
all existing triangulation schemes with seamless interblock boundaries"
- organized in rectangular regions but uses interblock polygons to match between levels of detail across these regions
- integrates roads and rivers into the terrain skin
- input: DLG-O, LULC, DFAD, DTED, Shape, and DEM (1-degree and UTM-based DEMs)
- "only supports a single UTM USGS DEM at one time"
- output: OpenFlight™ or their own "TerraPage" format for large area paging
- comes preconfigured with ~500 texture patterns for soil, trees, urban
areas, water, roads, and fences
- these patterns are derived from the texture library published by CGSD
- three terrain visualization products (Viewer, Designer, Editor) from Italian company Terra Nova
- their summary of functionality: "maps from raster formats (DTM, Slopes, Exposition, Shading, etc.), maps from vector formats (2D or 3D TIN Shapefile, level curves, altimetric bands, regular points grids, etc), 3D processing (add altitudes to 2D or 3D Shapefiles, calculate the 3D area in a polygonal Shapefile, calculate volume differences)"
- they are Windows applications, and web viewers including IE plugin, Java and Flash-based
- there are extensions for Weather, Time, and Floods
- as of 2008, the site seems a little old ('news' is from 2004, screenshots are missing, Flash demos are 404, trying to log in gives an ODBC error)
- €14800 from German company TrianGraphics
- Like TerraVista, this is another vis-sim oriented scene building application. You import a variety of elevation, image and vector data, and it writes a FLT file with the whole scene, ready for use in a vis-sim runtime environment.
- Built on OSG and hence supports .osg/.ive formats directly
- extensive generation of geotypical databases, including randomized distribution of rural and urban buildings
- extra modules for "Geotypic, Roads, Airports, GDB Export"
- several attractive demo scenes available in OSG and FLT formats
- fairly simple non-realtime renderer for textured heightfields
- $300, but the free demo provides nearly all functionality
- reads GTOPO30, SDTS Raster Profiles, and several flavors of DEM
- requires converting them to an intermediate 24-bit TGA file
- includes an innovative free tool
TFMAKE:
- automatically retrieves USGS DEMs from various servers, gets the corresponding texture information from the Tiger server and adapts these two data sources such that they fit together perfectly
- specialized visualization engine for planetariums, primarily for astronomical rendering, from Swedish company SCISS AB
- it has a planet rendering option, Halo Surfaces (no relation to the Halo game) which uses Duchaineau's ROAM2 algorithm for "planetary surfaces of arbitrary resolution"
- pricing isn't mentioned, presumably far less expensive than the planetarium hardware it's designed for
- works on single-display PC platforms, fisheye PC platforms and multichannel SGI and PC platforms.
vGeo
- Virtual Global Explorer and Observatory- from VRCO, high-end, Linux, Irix and Windows
- pricing is specific to each customer
- an "interactive data fusion and visual analysis tool" for general data visualization, which includes some terrain functionality
- supports primarily scientific data formats such as netCDF and HDF, but not common terrain formats such as DEM
- Microsoft's 3D terrain visualization software.
- It apparently does not have a website of its own, only exposed to users as a component inside the maps.live.com site.
- Only runs as an OCX inside Internet Explorer (not standalone, no other platforms or browsers).
- Content is static. No way to display your own data or turn features on/off as there is with Google Earth.
- Includes attractive 3D models of landmark buildings for 15 US cities (from Harris Corp's RealSite)
-
$2475
from 3D Nature, for Windows, dongle-protected - non-realtime terrain rendering package, more fully-featured version of World Construction Set (see Artificial Terrain page)
- adds a very large number of features, including support for diverse projections, georeferenced imagery, queries to feature databases, randomizing of objects, procedural generation of walls and simple buildings, OpenGL preview, irregularly shaped terrain, more
- 3DNWorld is a user's community site for users of WCS and VNS to exchange components, share tutorials and show off their work - some is artwork and fantasy, but an increasing amount is accurate, non-realtime terrain visualization!
- they have a useful page of Sources for DEM and Vector Data
VWorldTerrain- expensive (starting at $50k to license) proprietary terrain engine with a huge list of features
- paging of elevation/imagery databases, landscape terraforming (deserts, rain forests, mountains, etc.) with local vegetation, variable weather conditions (wind, temperature, snow, rain, mist, sandstorms, etc.) and advancing time (dawn, daylight, dusk, night), autonomous animals and vehicles, blended procedural textures, extrusion of buildings for rapid urban scenes, and much more
- this is the engine used in the Eingana edutainment title (2000-2002, see Tourism page) which has continued development since that time
- WorldPerfect ($13000) generates scenes and VRSG ($5000) provide the runtime and SDK
- from MetaVR, Inc.
- expensive tools which appear to be mostly oriented toward military customers
- claims to support massive data such as large areas at 1m resolution
- add-on tools for interfacing with maps ($7000) only mentions military map formats
