Interactive viewing of 3D terrain models using VRML

Many applications, including 3D Geographic Information Systems and flight simulation, rely on 3D terrain models. A system that supports these applications should ideally provide real-time interactive rendering of section of a large set of terrain data that may be accessed remotely using a client/server system. We present a Web-based system for interactive 3D terrain rendering using Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), a Web standard for presenting 3D virtual worlds. We describe an implementation of a 3D terrain model in VRML 1.0, and some ideas for improving the implementation using the new features available in VRML 2.0. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of VRML for constructing, accessing and visualizing 3D terrain models.