Interactive Rendering and Stylization of Transportation Networks using Distance Fields

Matthias Trapp, Amir Semmo, Jürgen Döllner

2015

Abstract

Transportation networks, such as streets, railroads or metro systems, constitute primary elements in cartography for reckoning and navigation. In recent years, they have become an increasingly important part of 3D virtual environments for the interactive analysis and communication of complex hierarchical information, for example in routing, logistics optimization, and disaster management. A variety of rendering techniques have been proposed that deal with integrating transportation networks within these environments, but have so far neglected the many challenges of an interactive design process to adapt their spatial and thematic granularity (i.e., level-of-detail and level-of-abstraction) according to a user’s context. This paper presents an efficient real-time rendering technique for the view-dependent rendering of geometrically complex transportation networks within 3D virtual environments. Our technique is based on distance fields using deferred texturing that shifts the design process to the shading stage for real-time stylization. We demonstrate and discuss our approach by means of street networks using cartographic design principles for context-aware stylization, including view-dependent scaling for clutter reduction, contour-lining to provide figure-ground, handling of street crossings via shading-based blending, and task-dependent colorization. Finally, we present potential usage scenarios and applications together with a performance evaluation of our implementation.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Trapp M., Semmo A. and Döllner J. (2015). Interactive Rendering and Stylization of Transportation Networks using Distance Fields . In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: GRAPP, (VISIGRAPP 2015) ISBN 978-989-758-087-1, pages 207-219. DOI: 10.5220/0005310502070219

in Bibtex Style

@conference{grapp15,
author={Matthias Trapp and Amir Semmo and Jürgen Döllner},
title={Interactive Rendering and Stylization of Transportation Networks using Distance Fields},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: GRAPP, (VISIGRAPP 2015)},
year={2015},
pages={207-219},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005310502070219},
isbn={978-989-758-087-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: GRAPP, (VISIGRAPP 2015)
TI - Interactive Rendering and Stylization of Transportation Networks using Distance Fields
SN - 978-989-758-087-1
AU - Trapp M.
AU - Semmo A.
AU - Döllner J.
PY - 2015
SP - 207
EP - 219
DO - 10.5220/0005310502070219