A Solution for the Focus and Context Problem in Geo-Virtual Environments

Timo Ropinski

Ulm University

Klaus Hinrichs

Frank Steinicke

Hamburg University

2005

Abstract

One major aim of exploring virtual geo-environments is to reveal information which is hidden in large sets of high-dimensional data. Since only three dimensions in space - plus one dimension in time - can be used in 3D visualization it is difficult to visualize a large number of attributes associated with geo-objects without burdening the user’s cognition. The 3D Magic Lens metaphor has the potential to solve this problem, since it can be used to assign different visual appearances to different parts of a virtual environment. Based on an image-based magic lens rendering algorithm we revealed several application areas in geovisualization which can potentially benefit from the use of 3D magic lenses. In this paper we will give application examples of different lenses applied to virtual geoenvironments. In particular, we will introduce the use of the magic lens metaphor to aid landscaping, urban city planning as well as subsurface visualization tasks. Based on these application areas we will also introduce a classification of different lens types.

Bibtex

@article{ropinski2005solution,
	title={A Solution for the Focus and Context Problem in Geo-Virtual Environments},
	author={Ropinski, Timo and Hinrichs, Klaus and Steinicke, Frank},
	year={2005},
	pages={144--149}
}