GeoVRML Tools

This page contains a collection of links to various tools and utilities that support GeoVRML (1.0 or 1.1). This includes tools that generate GeoVRML data from other sources as well as tools that perform operations on GeoVRML models themselves. If you have written a utility that you would like to have included on this page, then please announce this on the geovrml mailing list. For further information on GeoVRML 1.1, please refer to the GeoVRML 1.1 Home Page.

• Cortona VRML Browser: : ParallelGraphics

  http://www.parallelgraphics.com/

  The Cortona 3 VRML browser provides native support for GeoVRML 1.0. That is, all of the GeoVRML nodes have been ported to C++ and implemented within the browser, rather than as Java Script nodes. This brings the benefits of increased speed and no GeoVRML run-time installation requirements. ParallelGraphics have also added a GeoSplineElevationGrid node to those detailed in the GeoVRML 1.0 specification.

  Currently, in order to use the Cortona native extensions, a GeoVRML scene must use the ParallelGraphics EXTERNPROTOs instead of those at geovrml.org. For more info, Check the mailing list archives.

• ShapeViz: : Bashir Research

  http://www.my3d.com/ShapeViz.htm

  ShapeViz is an application that can take ArcView Shape files, view them, and convert them into VRML and GeoVRML. It runs under Windows 98 and NT. Conversion Tool is based on the SEDRIS conversion libraries and lets you convert coordinates between latitude/longitude and Universal Transverse Mercator.

• X3D-Edit : Don Brutzman, Naval Postgraduate School.

  http://www.web3D.org/TaskGroups/x3d/translation/README.X3D-Edit.txt

  X3D-Edit is an Extensible 3D (X3D) graphics file editor that uses the X3D Document Type Definition (DTD) in combination with Sun's Java, IBM's Xeena XML editor, and an editor profile configuration file. X3D-Edit enables simple error-free editing, authoring and validation of X3D or VRML scene-graph files. Don Brutzman has produced a GeoVRML Profile for X3D that can be found from the examples page, as well as a screen snapshot.

• DEM2GeoEG : Martin Reddy, SRI International.

  http://www.ai.sri.com/~reddy/geovrml/dem2geoeg/

  A program to convert USGS Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data into a VRML .wrl file that uses the GeoVRML GeoElevationGrid. One benefit of this is that you can inline multiple GeoElevationGrids into a single scene and they will be correctly located with respect to each other. You can vary the number of polygons, vertical exaggeration, color, and texture of the output. Source code available.

• Rez: Mutiresolution Terrain Tools : Chris Thorne, ADI Limited.

  http://www.surak.com.au/~chris/vrml/RezIndex.html

  A suite of utilities for breaking up and optimising large elevation grids. This includes utilities to read an elevation grid and output tiled multiresolution grids, as well as take a large JFIF/JPEG or GIF file and segment this into a number of smaller subimages. Many run-time options to customize the output models, with support for the GeoLOD and GeoElevationGrid nodes. Source code available.

• tsmApi : Martin Reddy, Yvan Leclerc and Lee Iverson, SRI International.

  http://www.tsmApi.com/

  The tsmApi library (Tile Set Manager API) includes a VRML97 parser and provides functions for generating tiled multiresolution terrains from various raw imageries, and then converting these into a GeoVRML 1.0 representation, using GeoLOD and GeoElevationGrid nodes. The library is Open Source and includes a suite of tools built on the library, such as the text2geovrml converter.