Using 3D to visualise temporal data

Dynamic 3D models generated from historical, time stamped data provide opportunities for insights and understanding that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to gain in applications as diverse as the teaching and learning of history and the analysis of aerospace experiments. This paper describes how historical data in a temporal database can be used to generate dynamic 3D models expressed in VRML. The models include facilities to move back and forth in time, to hide or reveal groups of objects and their labels and to show the paths traced by individual objects as they move through space and time. The change of shape of objects over time can also be modelled. The tools described in this paper enable the user to create these 3D worlds automatically without needing to know anything about the underlying 3D modelling language employed.