GIS/Terrain Rendering/VRML

2-D Java GIS Terrain Viewer

• Improved performance, capabilities, and interface over initial version.
• Added database support and census data to enable searching for towns and other named places in New York State, and obtaining information (population, elevation, etc) about towns.
• Added capability to search for towns and places within a particular area or radius.
• Investigating the use of the new JDBC Java database interface standard and other new Java libraries and APIs.

3-D VRML Terrain Viewer

• Improved performance, capabilities, and interface over initial version.
• Added improved database support for storing terrain and other data.
• Improved the implementation of the level of detail to optimize the amount of data to be downloaded and displayed.
• Implemented polygon optimization using wavelet techniques and texture mapping of polygons in order to reduce the of number of polygons to be downloaded and rendered, while maintaining good image quality.
• Investigating possible useful features of VRML 2.0, and integration with the Java GIS program.