Desktop Virtual Reality in the Assessment of Tidal Effect

Judith Kelneic, Alejanh C. F q * , J&o R Moreira**, Bhrbara D. S. Pessoa*, Daniel Mascarenhas Alheiros*
Mozart de S. C.Amijo Filho*, Veronica Teichrieb*
*Universidade Federal de Fernambuco, Centro de Infodtica, CP 7851,50732-970, Recife, PE - Brazil
Phone +55 81 2718430 ext. 3324, Fax +55 81 2718438, t i k ; f r . e r y ; W s p ; d m a ; m ; ~ } ~ c i n . ~ . b r
**Aero-Sensing Radarsysteme GmbH, c/o DLR, Oberpfaenhofen, 82234, Wessling, Germany
Phone +49 8153 281549, Fax +49 8153 281543, Aero-Sensing@dlr.de

ABSTRACT
This paper describes a system that builds desktop Virtual Reality models based on topographic maps, and an
application to tidal dynamics analysis is shown. The virtual reality model allows the user to explore the scene from any
possible point of view, also permitting to alter the level of the sea simulating all possible tides. With each tide level, flooded
and dry areas are visible and the flooding pttern can be observed. Tides can be simulated with the use of an intmfhce that
creates cyclic situations. The system allows the choice of texture and colors, the creation of routes and the placement of
marking objects such as buoys etc. The applicationreceives a (possibly irregular) Digital Elevation Model, and builds a Virtual
Reality description using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language, which allows good interaction between the user and the
model. The application only requires a major Internet browser with a free plug-in. A case study is performed with Synthetic
Aperture Radar data acquired near the city of Bremerhaven, an intertidal zone along the German coast. This zone is
temporarily flooded, and it is separated into tidal flats that fall dry and tidal channels that remain filled with water during a
tidal cycle. The topography over this area is usually flat over tenths of kilometers. Height variations depend on the distribution
of the tidal inlets and the distribution of the sediments. Due to these currents and wave action the topography of these area is
highly dynamic.
KEY WORDS: Digital Elevation Model, Virtual Reality, tidal effect, VRML.
Another advantage that can be observed by the
use of VR is a more realistic presentation of the
information. The use of resources such as specific nodes

INTRODUCTION
Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are commonly
used for the visualization of Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SAR)data. This visualization normally occurs using twodimensionalinterfaces which allow the analysis of several
kinds of information (for example, relief, vegetation,
temperature etc.), emphasized by the use of Werent
colors or textures depending on the different categories of
the information to be presented

for the three-dimensional representation of any kind of

objects and several color and texture options make these
models quite realistic and stimulating
One of the major technologies used for this kind
of information representation is the VRML (Virtual
Reality Modeling Language [2]) description language, a
free domain ASCII based language. It is mainly useful for
the building of environmentsthat do not need Soplllsticated
interaction fimctionality that could demand a high level of
programming. This language is proper for the construction
of desktop VR environmentsand can be easily used for the
description of objects such as terrain models and to build
and use basic inkraction tools.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology makes available

a new pa for visualization and exploration of
information: the three-dimensional paradigm [l]. Its main
advantage is that it offers high interaction with the
environment. The possibility of navigating across the
three-dimensional scene, visualizing the information
represented from several points of view, according to the
users interest, facilitates the exploration and enhances the
process of information analysis. Basically the interaction
techniques offer a free or predefined path-based
navigation, as well as the use of special sensor nodes that
can be defined in the environment for the interaction with
specific objects.

0-7803-6359-O/OO/$lO.OO
0 2000 IEEE

The next section describes a system that builds

desktop VR models based on topographic maps, as an
application for tidal effect assessment. The spatial features
of the DEMs and the highly interactive functionality and
realistic representation of information of the desktop VR
technology are jointly used in order to enhance the
visualization and analysis of S A R data.

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In order to visualize the 3D model, the user needs

to open a major Internet browser with a free VRML plugin. Figure 3 shows two different points of view of a threedimensional virtual world generated by the system. In the
first picture the tide is low, while in the second, after the
rise of the tide, a large area of the modeled region becomes
flooded.

One relevant point for the efficient analysis of this

kind of information is the possibility they offer to interact
with them. The use of intuitive tools that give the user
more freedom to explore the data from different
perspectives, such as predefined navigation paths, is one of
the alternatives described

CASE STUDY

The VR model allows the user to explore the

scene from any possible point of view and permits him/her
to alter the level of the sea simulating all possible tidal
effects. With each tide level, flooded and dry areas are
visible and the flooding pattem can be observed. Tides can
be simulated with the use of a sensor-based interface
represented as a ruler, that creates cyclic situations
(see Figure 3).

The case study described in this paper is

performed using SAR data acquired near the city of
Bremerhaven, in the German Wadden Sea. This region
represents an intertidal zone along the coast, which is
temporarily flooded and is separated into tidal flats that
fall dry, and tidal channels that remain filled with water
during a tidal cycle. The topography over this area is
usually flat over tenths of kilometers. Height variations
depend on the distribution of the tidal inlets and the
distribution of the sediments. Due to these currents and
wave action the topography of this area is frequently
changing.
For simulating the tidal effects it was developed a
system that generates a three-dimensional VR model based
on given DEM data. An embedded plane object
representing the sea level and a ruler positioned besides
this plane, which shows the tide height complete the whole
scene (seeFigure 3). Depending on the sea level, which
can be modified dynamically during navigation changing
the position of the sea object according to the height
indication on the ruler, the user can analyze which parts of
the modeled region become flooded

One of the major advantages of VR based models

is the high interaction functionality offered by the plug-ins,
which can also be increased through the construction of
navigation paths composed by viewpoints for exploration
of the world The system here described offers the
possibility to define, through the viewpoint editor module,
new points of view, which can be created while the user
navigates through the space and observes relevant
positions in the world Such viewpoints allow a more
efficient analysis of the model, since they facilitate the
visualization of interesting details of the simulation. Once
created, these viewpoints can be used later during the
exploration of the world, or excluded if they become
UnneCeSSary.

The system was developed using the Java[3]

programming language. For the implementation of the
viewpoint editor module, which interacts with the world
build module as well as with the three-dimensional model,
it was used the Java API called Java 3D [4]. Finally, the
virtual scene was generated by the system using the
description language VRML [2].

Three main modules, shown inFigure 1, are

responsible for the functioningof the system: header editor
module, world building module and viewpoint editor
module. The first module, illustrated inFigure 2 (a),
allows a verification of the header file corresponding to the
DEM file, representing the region to be visualized. The
system receives the header file, composed by the file size,
samples, lines, bands, offset, x start, y start, data type,byte
order, file type, interleave and description of the DEM file,
and the user can modlfy this information if they are not
compatible with the DEMs data file, maintaining the
consistence of the DEMs header file.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Once the header information is confirmed, the

system shows the DEM as a bitmap where the user can
select the interest region to be presented as a threedimensional model for the tidal effect assessment
(seeFigure 2 (b)). In this step, executed by the world
building module, the user needs to indicate a factor value
(sample data from the selected region) and the name of the
output file to be generated. This output file is the VR
description of the selected area using VRML. It is also
possible to chose a texture to be mapped into the 3D
VRML model, increasing the reality of the scene.

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The use of desktop VR interfaces for the

visualization of DEMs has proved being very efficient due
to the navigation and interaction possibilities offered to the
user, as well as for the more realistic way to explore the
DEM. The predefined navigation paths and the viewpoint
editor help the user during the analysis of the simulations
performed, improving hidher exploration
Moreover, visualizing DEMs as threedimensional models allows a very realistic analysis of the
data, being possible to simulate virtually several situations
that occur in the real world, such as the one described in
this paper, and assess the information delivered by them.
The system described above is used as an
application to tidal dynarmcs, simulating flood depending

[l] C. Cavallar, D. mgl, Organizing Information in 3D.

In: VIRTUAL WORLDS, LNAI 1434, 1998, Berlin,
Proceedings. Berlin:
Springer-Verlag Berlin
Heidelberg, 1998. pp.308-314.

on the level of the sea, regulated by the user through a

ruler object. However, another simulations could be
performed, such as the assessmentof precipitation effect in
specific regions curing established periods. Depending on
the amount of rain and the topology of a given region, a
three-dimensional scene could represent this effects and
help in the prevention of flood problems, occurred easily at
regions that stay under the sea level.

[2] A L.Ames, D. R Nadeau, J. L.Moreland, VRML 2.0

Sourcebook, 2nd d.United States of America:
Wiley, 1997.
[3] H. M. Deitel, P. J. Deitel, Java: How to Program, 2nd

The enhancement of the system for such

simulations is one of the future works to be done by the
authors.

ed.. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998.

[4] K. Brown, D. Petersen, Ready-to-Run Java 3D.
United States of America: Wiley, 1999,400~.

REFERENCES

I .

i ' I

Figure 1: System architecture.

(b)

Figure 2: System interfaces.

Figure 3: Three-dimensionalDEM visualized at Merent points of view.

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