Implementation of interactive three-dimensional visualization of air pollutants using WebGL

Abstract The visualization of a three-dimensional (3D) distribution of high-density data for scientific computations with limited computing resources under a network environment is difficult. This paper describes the implementation of an interactive 3D display of air pollutants in a network environment using the open-source WebGL class library, Three. js. A kd-tree is used to find the nearest point data to interpolate the 3D grid data of pollutants because the source data are scattered, which helps locate the data conveniently at the client's end. The binary file format is used to save and transfer data to reduce the number of network transmissions and to improve the speed of the image display. The results show that the visual effects and rendering speed are significantly improved on the web with the use of the proposed technology.

[1]  Ralf Gutbell,et al.  A case study on 3D geospatial applications in the web using state-of-the-art WebGL frameworks , 2015, Web3D.

[2]  Hu Jun-guo.  Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Several Visualization Schemes of Carbon Dioxide Based on OpenGL and ArcEngine , 2013 .

[3]  Euro Cogliani,et al.  Air pollution forecast in cities by an air pollution index highly correlated with meteorological variables , 2001 .

[4]  Nicolas Paparoditis,et al.  A web-based 3D mapping application using WebGL allowing interaction with images, point clouds and models , 2012, SIGSPATIAL/GIS.

[5]  Jon Louis Bentley,et al.  Multidimensional binary search trees used for associative searching , 1975, CACM.

[6]  Duan Hui-chuan,et al.  Research on data transmission efficiency of JSON , 2011 .

[7]  Jeffery S. Horsburgh,et al.  A web-based, interactive visualization tool for social environmental survey data , 2016, Environ. Model. Softw..

[8]  Tony Parisi,et al.  WebGL: Up and Running , 2012 .

[9]  J. R. Alder,et al.  Web based visualization of large climate data sets , 2015, Environ. Model. Softw..

[10]  B. R. Gurjar,et al.  Role of meteorology in seasonality of air pollution in megacity Delhi, India , 2012, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

[11]  Brice Gayet,et al.  3D visualization reduces operating time when compared to high-definition 2D in laparoscopic liver resection: a case-matched study , 2016, Surgical Endoscopy.

[12]  Jean-Claude Thill,et al.  Enhanced 3D visualization techniques in support of indoor location planning , 2015, Comput. Environ. Urban Syst..

[13]  Kwong-Sak Leung,et al.  iview: an interactive WebGL visualizer for protein-ligand complex , 2014, BMC Bioinformatics.

[14]  Aitor Moreno,et al.  Interactive visualization of volumetric data with WebGL in real-time , 2011, Web3D '11.

[15]  Muhammad Hussain,et al.  A fast and memory-efficient method for LOD modeling of polygonal models , 2003, 2003 International Conference on Geometric Modeling and Graphics, 2003. Proceedings.