The goal was to allow outdoor assessment of territorial data on a large area scale in order to embed and superimpose virtual geo-referenced maps, objects and feature sets on the real landscape and estates

n the context of planning, interaction with an augmented reality application in an outdoor setting, would usually be performed on an area of several kilometers. For this reason Graphitech has developed an autdoor AR/VR 3D Gis application. The goal was to allow outdoor assessment of territorial data on a large area scale in order to embed and superimpose virtual geo-referenced maps, objects and feature sets on the real landscape and estates.

However a severe restriction of the user would be to limit his position to his GPS-determined location, since there might be areas which are occluded by objects or terrain topology and thus not accessible without moving physically close to the location of interest. It is often required that information is seen in a larger context. For this reason the system is capable to let the user to temporarily leave the AR mode. He/she is then enabled to use specific terrain navigation metaphors such as flying on the terrain. Both VR and AR mode allow interacting with the scene equally. He/she might then decide if it is necessary to scrutinize the object of interest in AR by relocating to this location. It should be pointed out that the user experiences the product in a virtual reproduction of the scene, with only the related content shown, thus permitting an outdoor session with the purpose of reviewing a building which is planned to be constructed.

The requirements on the application level are therefore challenging in multiple ways. On the application level, it has to be examined how to extend an existing VR framework with video see through capabilities and location-based services (LBS).

Current optical tracking systems lack adequate means to embed dynamic data stemming from sources like sensors and static data from Web Feature Services (WFS) and Web Map Services (WMS). It had to be found a way in order to combine virtual and augmented terrain visualization and how to geo-reference the virtual with the real world. Until now, augmented terrain applications had used widely optical tracking systems which deduct the user's position and orientation. Although recent systems use already Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) and inertial motion sensor to locate the users, it still remains unclear how to keep a virtual copy of the real world in adequate alignment.

In this research work, Graphitech has achieved an interaction with the real world by superimposing a geo-referenced virtual topology on the real terrain, thus delivering a new way to undertake large area surveillance which is in fact an Augmented Geographic Information System (AGIS). For this reason, GIS or design review content can be maintained with traditional GIS applications and can be visualized in the real world 3D context.

Further the application developed supports collaborative features and data exchange, thus allowing for example shared navigation and a physical distribution of the connected clients. This way for instance, a supervisor could follow the outdoor session performed on-site in-house.

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