Abstract
Current techniques for the creation and exploration of virtual worlds are largely unable to generate sound natural environments from ecological data and to provide interactive web-based visualizations of such detailed environments. We tackle this challenge and propose a novel framework that (i) explores the advantages of landscape maps and ecological statistical data, translating them to an ecologically sound plant distribution, and (ii) creates a visually convincing 3D representation of the natural environment suitable for its interactive visualization over the web. Our vegetation model improves techniques from procedural ecosystem generation and neutral landscape modeling. It is able to generate diverse ecological sound plant distributions directly from landscape maps with statistical ecological data. Our visualization model integrates existing level of detail and illumination techniques to achieve interactive frame rates and improve realism. We validated with ecology experts the outcome of our framework using two case studies and concluded that it provides convincing interactive visualizations of large natural environments.
Highlights
The visualization of existing and future natural environments is becoming more important for decision-making, as well as for recreational and scientific communication, as it considerably helps to better understand the various spatial relations in an environment [1, 2]
We found no examples of web-based interactive visualizations of large natural environments presenting a large variety of plant species, like those we present here
We developed a new method for the generation of accurate plant distributions from landscape maps and statistical data and for the visualization of the resulting natural environments in an interactive 3D web environment
Summary
The visualization of existing and future natural environments is becoming more important for decision-making, as well as for recreational and scientific communication, as it considerably helps to better understand the various spatial relations in an environment [1, 2] This is an important topic for ecologists who are focusing on developing ecological models that can predict how an environment develops in the future (see Figure 1). Instead of creating a strong dike to protect the land against water, ecological processes are utilized in the target area to develop natural dunes that can provide protection. This area can be used for security, and for recreation services.
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