Generating a VRML world from database contents: Illustrated by application to flood risk communication

Abstract

The Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) was created for visualizing interactive 3D objects and worlds over the Internet. For cartography, VRML has proved to be a useful tool for modelling reality producing 3D animations and interactive mapping. Another useful and emerging VRML capability for cartographers is database connectivity. Databases can be used to store object characteristics such as geographic coordinates, object geometry and object textures. The object characteristics stored in the database can be used to generate a VRML world. This is particularly useful for improving the efficiency of data maintenance and reducing the download rates of large VRML worlds. The main objective of this paper is to inform readers of how VRML can be generated from a database. An example of a VRML world that is being generated by the scripting language PHP from a text database will be provided. This example is a part of prototype, geographic visualization (GeoVis) tools being developed by the authors for a research project. The research project is motivated by the idea that visuals can be used alongside traditional warning methods as a way of improving flood risk communication to the public. This paper is a good starting point for those wanting to link a database to a VRML world but lack the experience in VRML and database connectivity to do so.