Development and implementation of a real-time roaming system for hydraulic engineering

The development and implementation of a virtual real-time roaming system is introduced. The system was to investigate hydraulic environment by analyzing large quantities of geographical-related data. Aspects like presentations of data with spatial dependence, virtual real-time roaming in the terrain and geographical frame of reference and interaction techniques are presented. Easy-to-use methods that permit users to roam in a scale-true visualization and interact with it are implemented. Roaming in time is used to provide assistance for data selection and to enhance the flexibility of the visualization. The paper described the main process to construct a true 3D virtual environment for hydraulic engineering. Key techniques and the difficulties with their solutions in the implementation and application of virtual real-time roaming techniques are analyzed and summarized.