The aim of the thesis can be divided into two main scopes. The first part is to examine and to validate available Virtual Globe environments and to make a decision based on a defined criterion on which environment shall be used to represent available Geo-data set. Most popular environments will be reviewed, the underlying technologies, functionality, performance, sustainability and use community activity will be compared for each environment. Additionally, a survey was conducted on real-world implementation of the use of Virtual Globes in area of cultural heritage and archaeology, from which the design concept of the practical part will be inspired. Secondly, after a decision is made, implementing rendering and visualization techniques provided by the selected web globe environment is carried out in order to convey the model data sources in a web application, the results shall be presented and discussed and further recommendations shall be made at the end of the thesis.
The motivation for the web application development which is built from vector data, photo collections and 3D models. is to carry on the efforts made by the Institute of Cartography, TUD in cooperation with Ghent University for assisting in research and management of the culturally-rich conservation area “Ethno-Nature Park Uch Enmek”. The “ Open Web Globe ” technology, that has been used so far ( [46], [44]), is not developed any further. This calls for a transfer of the project into a different technical environment. In this context, a revision of
the existing data structures and organization and provision seems sensible.