A rapid visualization method of vector data over 3D terrain

A rapid visualization method of GIS vector data on 3D terrain is proposed in this paper, including the organization of 3D vector data based on a quad-tree structure, the way to spatialize 2D vector data with terrain matching and methods to render a large amount of vector objects in a 3D scene. In the preprocessing procedure, vector data is extracted into different levels of detail using a simplification algorithm and then divided into quad-tree tiles. In the tile, a rapid terrain matching method is introduced to make 3D vectors go with terrain mesh faces. At run-time, vector objects are cached and managed by an object pool to realize rapid visualization. Experimental results prove the proposed method is a practical and efficient way to visualize large-scale vector data over 3D terrain.